Tyson

Spellings & scripts●

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Tyson is also recorded as another name, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Hindi surname2.5K records spelled Tyson3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, India, Ireland

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu

  Also written Tysón

75 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Tyson is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, from OFr tison ‘firebrand’; first attested Gilbert Tison 1086 DB (Nottinghamshire)

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• Mainly U.S.: transferred use of the surname, which is of dual origin. In part it is a metronymic from the medieval woman’s given name Dye, pet form of Dionysia, and in part it is anickname for a hot-tempered person, from Old French tison ‘firebrand’. As a given name it is often taken as an expanded form or patronymic from Ty.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In English, someone of a fiery temperament, from OF tison firebrand (L titio, gen. titionis). Tyssen see Thiess Tytel see Teitelbaum

  as a name·The Oxford Names Companion - The definitive guide to Surnames, First Names, and Place Names of the British Isles

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 109 years between 1912–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Edward Tysonb. 1651GBEnglish scientist and physician, 1651–1708
• Cicely Tysonb. 1924USAmerican actress (1924–2021)
• Ian Tysonb. 1933CACanadian singer-songwriter (1933–2022)
• Laura D. Tysonb. 1947USAmerican business academic (born 1947)
• Richard Tysonb. 1956USAmerican actor
• Neil deGrasse Tysonb. 1958USAmerican astrophysicist and science communicator
• Barbara Tysonb. 1964CACanadian actress
• Cathy Tysonb. 1965GBEnglish actress
• Mike Tysonb. 1966USAmerican boxer and media personality (born 1966)
• Hunter Tysonb. 2000USAmerican basketball player (born 2000)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 562 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Tyson?

We estimate roughly 31 thousand people bear Tyson (counting its spellings and scripts) across 13 countries in our records.

In which country does Tyson have the most bearers?

We estimate about 29 thousand people bear Tyson in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled tyson.

Where is Tyson most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Tyson is densest in St. Kitts & Nevis — about 1 in 253 people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

How common is Tyson compared with other names?

In the United States, Tyson is the 973rd most common surname of 7,257,200 surnames recorded there.

What does the name Tyson mean?

Recorded meaning: (i) from a medieval nickname for a hot-tempered person; (ii) a different form of Dyson