# Thornton (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/thornton/  
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 | “thorn”, “settlement” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈθɔː(ɹ)ntən/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 3,132 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 3,132 / 0 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 3, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Old English þorn (“thorn”) + 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, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 12 | 7,190 |
| 2011 | 9 | 8,687 |
| 2012 | 8 | 9,614 |
| 2013 | 10 | 8,047 |
| 2014 | 11 | 7,509 |
| 2015 | 9 | 8,673 |
| 2016 | 10 | 8,090 |
| 2017 | 13 | 6,627 |
| 2018 | 11 | 7,564 |
| 2019 | 8 | 9,652 |
| 2020 | 8 | 9,474 |
| 2021 | 6 | 11,989 |
| 2023 | 5 | 13,984 |
| 2024 | 6 | 12,205 |
| 2025 | 10 | 8,190 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 3 | 4,632 |

## People named Thornton

- Thornton Wilder, American playwright and novelist (1897–1975)
- Thornton Freeland, film director (1898–1987)
- Asa Butterfield, English actor
- Samuel T. Durrance, American scientist (1943–2023)
- Lewis Powell, American soldier and conspirator (1844–1865)
- T. Hee, American animator, director and teacher (1911–1988)

## 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.