Meaning & Origin
a patronymic surname.
Judson is a boy's baby name of Old English origin, an English patronymic surname meaning "son of Judd," with Judd being a medieval pet form of Jordan, from the Hebrew Yarden (the Jordan River) meaning "to flow down."
Judson carries an association with Adoniram Judson, the pioneering American Baptist missionary to Burma (Myanmar) in the early 19th century — one of the most celebrated names in American Protestant history. For families with a Christian heritage, Judson carries both historical gravitas and the gentle -son ending that keeps it current.