Stetson

Where Stetson comes from

A variant of Stitson, a habitational name from Stidston (“site in the Parish of South Brent”), from Middle English Stidewardesdoune, Stidewardeston, Stitewardeston, Styddeston, from Old English *Stīthweardes (genitive of *Stīthweard (personal name)) + tūn (“farmstead estate”). * (hat): From Stetson, an American brand of hat named after its manufacturer, John B. Stetson Company, itself named after John B. Stetson, who founded it in 1865. The hats were widely known in the 1870s and 1880s. Sol Steinmetz stated in 2010 that Stetson hat was first attested in 1900, but this is clearly mistaken, being several decades too late; it may be that what Steinmetz had meant to write is that Stetson alone as a common noun meaning a Stetson hat was first attested in 1900.
— Wiktionary's entry for Stetson
Along the way
  1. 1916
    Stetson Kennedy born
    Author, folklorist, anti-Ku Klux Klan crusader
  2. 1930
    First appearance
    #4,001 among boys, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  3. 1997
    Stetson Bennett born
    American football player
  4. 2025
    Peak, #136
    2,662 babies named Stetson — more than any year before or since.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name.
Namesakes
  • Stetson Kennedy · Author, folklorist, anti-Ku Klux Klan crusader, 1916–2011
  • Stetson Bennett · American football player, born 1997

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.