# Denton (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/denton/  
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 | “valley”, “den”, “enclosure”, “settlement”, “town” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈdɛn.tən/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 5,143 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 5,143 / 0 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 64, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Old English denu (“valley, den”) + tūn (“enclosure; 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, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 53 | 2,383 |
| 2012 | 53 | 2,385 |
| 2013 | 56 | 2,291 |
| 2014 | 48 | 2,550 |
| 2015 | 52 | 2,438 |
| 2016 | 42 | 2,846 |
| 2017 | 55 | 2,355 |
| 2018 | 35 | 3,258 |
| 2019 | 39 | 3,065 |
| 2020 | 38 | 3,033 |
| 2021 | 26 | 4,041 |
| 2022 | 39 | 3,113 |
| 2023 | 38 | 3,188 |
| 2024 | 27 | 4,009 |
| 2025 | 32 | 3,529 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 3 | 2,901 |
| 2000 | 4 | 2,501 |
| 2001 | 4 | 2,587 |
| 2004 | 4 | 3,009 |
| 2007 | 6 | 2,741 |
| 2008 | 4 | 3,687 |
| 2009 | 4 | 3,744 |
| 2012 | 4 | 3,987 |
| 2014 | 3 | 4,632 |
| 2015 | 4 | 3,908 |
| 2016 | 5 | 3,478 |
| 2017 | 3 | 4,812 |
| 2018 | 3 | 4,749 |
| 2019 | 3 | 4,702 |
| 2022 | 4 | 4,001 |

## People named Denton

- Denton Cooley, American heart surgeon (1920–2016)
- Denton Welch, English writer and painter (1915-1948)
- John French, 1st Earl of Ypres, Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army (1852-1925)

## 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.