Hudson, an English surname-turned-given-name, was originally a patronymic name meaning "son of Hudde," with Hudde being a diminutive of the name Hugh. Some parents use it as a nature-inspired name or water-inspired name thanks to the Hudson River, which was named after English explorer Henry Hudson. The name started gaining popularity in the mid-1990s before entering the top-200 for the first time in 2008, per the Social Security Administration. Hudson has now been a top-100 boy's name every year since 2012 and cracked the top-25 for the first time in 2023. It's the name HGTV star Christina Haack gave her son in 2019, as well as the middle name actress Nikki DeLoach gave her son William Hudson in 2013.
