Cameron
- Pronunciation
- [Ca-me-ron]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Crooked Nose
- Origin
- Celtic
About the Name Cameron
Cameron is a Scottish surname meaning "crooked nose" — from Scottish Gaelic cam (crooked) and sròn (nose). The Cameron clan is one of the major Highland Scottish clans, traditionally based in Lochaber in the western Highlands; the name appears in Scottish records continuously since at least the 14th century. The clan's military prominence in Jacobite uprisings (particularly the 1745 rising under Bonnie Prince Charlie) gave the surname Cameron a distinctively Scottish-romantic register.
The transition from Scottish surname to international first name accelerated in the 20th century, particularly in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The name has been used for both boys and girls, though it remains predominantly male in SSA tracking — making Cameron one of the genuinely gender-neutral names that has held that quality across decades rather than drifting toward one gender. Notable bearers include Canadian filmmaker James Cameron (using Cameron as a surname, but the name's Scottish anchor), actress Cameron Diaz, and former British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Cameron's American climb peaked in the 1990s and reached the US top 50 boys' rank in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The name has receded slightly since but remains in steady use. The appeal is its rhythmic three-syllable structure, its layered Scottish-romantic register, and its gender-neutral flexibility. Common nicknames are Cam (the dominant modern form), Cammy (warmer and youthful), and the rare Ron. International forms are minimal since the name has remained essentially Scottish/English; the related Scottish Gaelic surname Camshron is the original form.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Cameron
US Popularity History (1987–2025)
Annual US births named Cameron by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2000 with 12,765 boys named Cameron (boy rank #31 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #76 for boys (4,348 US births). That's 45 places below its 2000 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Cameron Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Cameron the strongest states are Rhode Island, Delaware, Massachusetts.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rhode Island | #24 | 276 |
| 2 | Delaware | #24 | 244 |
| 3 | Massachusetts | #28 | 1,736 |
| 4 | Connecticut | #31 | 871 |
| 5 | New Jersey | #36 | 1,917 |
| 6 | Pennsylvania | #38 | 2,610 |
| 7 | Ohio | #42 | 2,243 |
| 8 | Michigan | #43 | 1,771 |
| 9 | New Hampshire | #44 | 258 |
| 10 | Wisconsin | #47 | 964 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Utah | #153 | 327 |
| 2 | Idaho | #135 | 178 |
| 3 | New Mexico | #127 | 163 |
| 4 | Oklahoma | #117 | 383 |
| 5 | Hawaii | #114 | 100 |
| 6 | Arkansas | #114 | 310 |
| 7 | Texas | #114 | 3,180 |
| 8 | California | #112 | 3,712 |
| 9 | Montana | #108 | 104 |
| 10 | Arizona | #103 | 757 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Cameron in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
Famous People Named Cameron
1 notable figure from history and culture who share the name Cameron.
- Cameron Diaz — Movie Actress (1972)
Looking for names like Cameron?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Cameron to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Cameron against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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