Given name & surname
Preston
“from the priest's town”
Preston is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “from the priest's town.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “from the priest's town.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is English.
How it developed
It entered given-name use through an existing surname.
The story
Its naming history includes the use of a family name as a given name.
Preston through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 123,757
- 122,958 boys · 799 girls
- Most popular year
- 2007
- 3,814 babies
- 2025
- 1,141
- #299 for boys · #9,944 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −36%
- Cooling
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 1,131 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 299 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 36.0% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 3,797 in 2007. It also appeared in 10 birth records for girls in 2025. In 2025, Texas had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (134). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 87,761 as a first name in 2020; 45,056 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Preston’s family of names
Preston has a related form in Prestin. Preston has a related form in Presten. Preston has a related form in Prestyn.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 9
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Prestynvariant
- Prestenvariant
- Prestanvariant
- Prestinvariant
- Presttonlikely variant
- Prestonnlikely variant
- Presstonlikely variant
- Pfeostunvariant
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Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
People named Preston
- Preston SturgesAmerican film director and screenwriter (1898-1959)
- Preston FosterAmerican actor, vocalist (1900-1970)
- Preston BrooksSouth Carolina politician. (1819–1857)
- Preston TuckerAmerican businessman (1903-1956)
- Preston Smithgovernor of Texas (1912-2003)
- Preston BaileyAmerican actorborn 2000
- Preston LacyAmerican stuntman and actorborn 1969
- Preston CloudAmerican earth scientist, biogeologist, cosmologist, and paleontologist (1912–1991)
- Preston DickinsonAmerican artist (1889-1930)
Characters named Preston: Preston Burke (the television show Grey's Anatomy).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Preston, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Ashton
“from the ash-tree town”
95% boys · 5% girls
Keaton
“from a shed town” · “from the town of hawks”
92% boys · 8% girls
Paxton
“from the peaceful town”
95% boys · 5% girls
Braxton
“from Brock's town”
99% boys · 1% girls
Landon
“from the long hill”
99% boys · 1% girls
Boston
Boston is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “from the town near the forest; from the city of Boston.”
90% boys · 10% girls
Anderson
“the son of Andrew”
91% boys · 9% girls
Clayton
“from the town settled on clay”
>99% boys