# Talbot (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/talbot/  
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 | French |
| Meaning | “bandit”, “valley”, “dale”, “bold”, “courageous” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈtɔːlbət/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Talbott, Talbut, Talbutt, Taulbut |
| US babies named this | 461 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 450 / 11 (2% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | not in the ONS data |

## Etymology

From Middle English talbot, from Old French talebot (“bandit”); a Norman nickname applied to robbers who blackened their faces to avoid recognition, from Old High German *Talbald (personal name), from Old High German tal (“valley, dale”) + bald (“bold, courageous”).

## What it means

Talbot is grouped under brave.

## 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 6 | 15,202 |
| 2008 | 5 | 20,148 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 8 | 6,905 |
| 1996 | 8 | 7,043 |
| 1997 | 10 | 6,031 |
| 1998 | 7 | 8,352 |
| 1999 | 9 | 7,047 |
| 2001 | 5 | 12,111 |
| 2003 | 6 | 10,716 |
| 2004 | 8 | 8,821 |
| 2005 | 5 | 13,122 |
| 2006 | 6 | 11,891 |
| 2007 | 7 | 10,757 |
| 2008 | 5 | 14,353 |
| 2012 | 5 | 13,973 |
| 2013 | 7 | 10,596 |
| 2020 | 6 | 11,861 |

## People named Talbot

- Talbot Mundy, British writer, born William Lancaster Gribbon (1879-1940)
- Talbot Baines Reed, English author (1852-1893)
- Talbot Hobbs, Australian military general and architect (1864-1938)
- Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, British politician and prime minister (1830-1903)
- Francis Day, British army surgeon, naturalist, ichthyologist and scientific illustrator (1829-1889)
- Arnold Wilson, diplomat (1884-1940)
- Percival Molson, Canadian ice hockey player (1880-1917)
- Robin Johnstone, British coxswain (1901–1976)

## 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.