How common is the surname Bolton?

32,815 people in the United States had the surname Bolton in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 9,409 Americans. It ranked 1,068th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Bolton?

John Bolton, American lawyer and diplomat (born 1948), followed by Michael Bolton.

Where is the surname Bolton most common?

Wikidata records people named Bolton in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom and 2 other countries.

How do you pronounce Bolton?

Bolton is /bɒltən/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Bolton getting more or less common?

More common. 31,995 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 32,815 in 2010, up 2.6%.

The surname Bolton

An English place surname, carried by 32,815 people in the United States.

Pronounced /bɒltən/ 2 syllables Soundex B435

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Bolton is more common than 99.3% of them.

Origin

English origin

From Middle English Bodeltone (in the Domesday Book) etc., ultimately from Old English bolt, bold, botl, etc. (“home, hall, manor”) + -tun (“-ton: enclosure, town”).

Bolton is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 32,815 people named Bolton in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 9,409 Americans. That is up 2.6% since 2000, when the Census counted 31,995.

#1,068

rank among US surnames

32,815

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+2.6%

change since 2000 (was #994)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,059	Chaney	33,201	9,299
#1,060	Kidd	33,186	9,303
#1,061	Velasco	33,078	9,334
#1,062	Ngo	33,005	9,355
#1,063	Cheng	32,982	9,361
#1,064	Newell	32,909	9,382
#1,065	Frey	32,904	9,383

Who is named Bolton

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

74% of people named Bolton identified as white (not Hispanic), 21% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 74%
Black (not Hispanic) 21%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
Two or more races 2.1%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Boltons

18 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

John Bolton
American lawyer and diplomat (born 1948)
Michael Bolton
American singer-songwriter, born 1953
Nancye Wynne Bolton
Australian tennis player, 1916–2001
Ruthie Bolton
American basketball player (born 1967)
John Gatenby Bolton
British-Australian astronomer, 1922–1993
Guy Bolton
British-American dramatist and playwright (1884-1979)
Herbert Eugene Bolton
American historian (1870–1953)
Emily Bolton
Aruban actress, born 1951
Frances Payne Bolton
American politician (1885-1977)
Sharon Bolton
British author, born 1960
Nicole Bolton
Australian cricketer, born 1989
Barry Bolton
British entomologist, born 1802

Notable Boltons come mostly from the United States (9), Australia (5) and the United Kingdom (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Boulton

Surnames that sound like Bolton

Bolton has the Soundex code B435, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code B435.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Bolton come from?: From Middle English Bodeltone (in the Domesday Book) etc., ultimately from Old English bolt, bold, botl, etc. (“home, hall, manor”) + -tun (“-ton: enclosure, town”).
How common is the surname Bolton?: 32,815 people in the United States had the surname Bolton in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 9,409 Americans. It ranked 1,068th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Bolton?: In the 2010 Census, 74% of people named Bolton identified as white (not Hispanic), and 21% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Bolton?: John Bolton, American lawyer and diplomat (born 1948), followed by Michael Bolton.
Where is the surname Bolton most common?: Wikidata records people named Bolton in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom and 2 other countries.
How do you pronounce Bolton?: Bolton is /bɒltən/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Bolton?: Bolton is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Bolton getting more or less common?: More common. 31,995 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 32,815 in 2010, up 2.6%.
What are other spellings of Bolton?: Boulton.