Watson

242,956 people in the United States were counted with the surname Watson in the 2020 census, making it the 87th most common in the country. That is about one person in 1,230.

By the numbers

People: 242,956
Rank: 87th
How common: 1 in 1,230
Per 100,000: 81.3

Where the name comes from

Origin a patronymic

Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Who bears the name

How people with the surname Watson described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:

White, not Hispanic 63.3%
Black, not Hispanic 27.2%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 4.6%
Hispanic or Latino 3.5%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.8%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.7%

Notable people called Watson

Emma Watson (born 1990)English actress
James Watson (1928–2025)American molecular biologist, geneticist, zoologist and Nobel Laureate
John B. Watson (1878–1958)American psychologist (1878
Emily Watson (born 1967)English actress
Chris Watson (1867–1941)Australian politician, third Prime Minister of Australia
Thomas John Watson, Sr. (1874–1956)USA IBM executive and art collector
Paul Watson (born 1950)Canadian environmental activist
Heather Watson (born 1992)British female tennis player

People named Watson with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).

Surnames like Watson

Also a first name

Watson has been given to 6,721 American babies as a first name since 1880, peaking in 2021. See it as a given name.

Try it on yourself

Source: US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Surnames, 2020. The Census describes the file as the surnames borne by 100 or more people; rarer names are not published. The line is not quite exact, and 617 published names come in under it, the smallest at 92 people. Race and Hispanic origin are self-reported. Rates are worked out against the 298.9 million people the file's own figures are calculated on, which is fewer than the census counted in all: the difference is everyone whose surname was too rare to publish.