English surname, "son of Jack" — son of jack. A surname first, borne by two presidents before it became a common given name.
Jackson ranks 36th among American boys in 2025, with 6,597 born that year. Its best year was 2013, when 12,626 babies were given the name, ranking 16th. The typical living American called Jackson is about 15 years old today. It is relatively most common in Wyoming, where it accounts for 0.68% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.