Addison

Meaning of Addison

Addison began as an English surname and is a patronymic, formed from a medieval pet form of Adam (Addy or Addie) plus the suffix -son, so its literal sense is “son of Adam.” Adam itself is Hebrew, usually explained as “man” or “mankind.” Name dictionaries agree on this derivation. Use of Addison as a first name dates from the 17th century in England, and it was originally given to boys; in the United States today it is used overwhelmingly for girls.

The name is pronounced AD-uh-suhn, with the stress on the first syllable and a soft second syllable that can sound like “iss” or “uss.” British and American speakers say it the same way.

Its best-known literary association is Joseph Addison, the English essayist and playwright who co-founded the Spectator in 1711. In medicine, Addison’s disease is named for the 19th-century physician Thomas Addison, who first described it. On television, Addison Montgomery is the surgeon at the center of Grey’s Anatomy and its spin-off Private Practice, and Addison Rae is among the most-followed figures on TikTok.

Addison rose sharply in the United States at the turn of the century: from 6 recorded births in 1980 to a peak of 11,949 in 2007, when it ranked 11th. It has declined steadily since, with 2,971 births and a rank of 84 in 2025, so it remains a familiar choice well inside the top 100.

Pronunciation

English

• Pronunced as AD-uh-suhn (/ˈædɪsn/)

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