# Appleton (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/appleton/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

An English habitational surname from Old English from either of the places.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 5,588 |
| US rank (2010) | 6,132 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 55,252 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.9% (5,377 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈæp.əl.tən/, 3 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Old English æppel + -tun, equivalent to apple + -ton. The town in Newfoundland is named for sawmill owner Appleton Cleaves.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Appleton in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 80% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 14% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.9% |
| Two or more races | 2.2% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Appleton in the United States and the United Kingdom.

## People named Appleton

- Emma Appleton, British actress
- Thomas Gold Appleton, American artist (1812-1884)
- Mason Appleton, American ice hockey player (born 1996)
- Jon Appleton, American composer (1939–2022)
- Nathan Appleton, American merchant and politician (1779-1861)
- John Appleton, American politician (1815-1864)

## Similar surnames

Applewhite.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.