# Alton (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/alton/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | English |
| Meaning | “river source”, “settlement”, “town” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɔːltən/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 47,832 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 47,457 / 375 (1% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 32, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Old English ǣwell (“river source”) + tūn (“settlement, town”).

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1946 | 5 | 4,975 |
| 1947 | 7 | 4,353 |
| 1951 | 10 | 3,484 |
| 1952 | 7 | 4,490 |
| 1953 | 6 | 5,052 |
| 1957 | 7 | 4,926 |
| 1960 | 9 | 4,441 |
| 1962 | 5 | 6,593 |
| 1963 | 8 | 4,904 |
| 1967 | 7 | 5,464 |
| 1969 | 5 | 7,498 |
| 1976 | 5 | 9,324 |
| 1981 | 5 | 10,469 |
| 1986 | 5 | 10,964 |
| 1989 | 5 | 12,430 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 131 | 1,305 |
| 2012 | 166 | 1,111 |
| 2013 | 152 | 1,180 |
| 2014 | 162 | 1,163 |
| 2015 | 147 | 1,239 |
| 2016 | 148 | 1,248 |
| 2017 | 133 | 1,341 |
| 2018 | 132 | 1,352 |
| 2019 | 134 | 1,340 |
| 2020 | 92 | 1,694 |
| 2021 | 137 | 1,349 |
| 2022 | 86 | 1,853 |
| 2023 | 101 | 1,681 |
| 2024 | 110 | 1,574 |
| 2025 | 106 | 1,602 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 3 | 2,943 |
| 2002 | 3 | 3,225 |
| 2004 | 3 | 3,651 |
| 2009 | 3 | 4,527 |
| 2012 | 7 | 2,721 |
| 2018 | 7 | 2,693 |
| 2019 | 6 | 3,013 |

## In other languages

- Bulgarian: Олтън
- Chinese: 奧爾顿 /奥尔顿

## People named Alton

- Alton B. Parker, American judge (1852–1926)
- Alton Brown, American chef, author and musician
- Alton Lister, American basketball player (born 1958)
- Alton Lennon, American politician (1906-1986)
- Glenn Miller, American band leader, arranger, and composer (1904–1944)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.