# Morton (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/morton/  
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 | “moor”, “marsh”, “settlement” |
| Pronunciation | [ˈmɔɹtn̩], 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 12,341 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 12,336 / 5 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 28, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Old English mōr (“moor, marsh”) + tūn (“settlement”).

## 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1918 | 5 | 5,358 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 5 | 9,152 |
| 1992 | 6 | 8,123 |
| 1993 | 13 | 4,614 |
| 1996 | 6 | 8,652 |
| 1997 | 9 | 6,450 |
| 1998 | 8 | 7,318 |
| 2000 | 5 | 11,597 |
| 2004 | 7 | 9,624 |
| 2005 | 7 | 9,816 |
| 2008 | 5 | 13,955 |
| 2011 | 7 | 10,407 |
| 2016 | 9 | 8,601 |
| 2018 | 11 | 7,461 |
| 2019 | 5 | 13,497 |
| 2021 | 8 | 9,407 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 3 | 2,863 |
| 1997 | 3 | 2,859 |
| 2000 | 3 | 3,036 |
| 2005 | 5 | 2,754 |
| 2007 | 3 | 4,333 |
| 2008 | 3 | 4,432 |
| 2009 | 3 | 4,527 |
| 2011 | 5 | 3,300 |

## People named Morton

- Henry Morton Stanley, British journalist and explorer (1841–1904)
- Morton Feldman, American composer (1926–1987)
- Morton Gould, American composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist (1913–1996)
- Morton Betts, English footballer (1847-1914)
- Morton Subotnick, American neo-classical composer and avant-garde electronic musician (born 1933)
- Morton Kaplan, American editor (1921-2017)
- Samuel Morton Peto, British politician, building contractor, railway contractor (1809-1889)
- Morton Smith, American historian and academic (1915–1991)
- Morton Stevens, American film score composer (1929-1991)
- Morton Prince, American physician who specialized in neurology and abnormal psychology
- Morton DaCosta, American actor, writer and director (1914–1989)
- Morton S. Wilkinson, American politician (1819-1894)

## 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.