# Carlton (surname)

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

A habitational surname from Old English, from any of these places.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 21,202 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,698 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 14,562 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.3% (20,727 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkɑɹ(ə)ltən/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Old English ċeorl (“freeman”) and tūn (“town”). Doublet of Charlton. The alteration of /tʃ/ to /k/ is down to Old Norse influence.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Carlton 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) | 15% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Carlton in the United States.

## People named Carlton

- Vanessa Carlton, American singer-songwriter
- Larry Carlton, American guitarist (born 1948)
- Steve Carlton, American baseball player
- Carl Carlton, American singer-songwriter (1953-2025)

## Similar surnames

Carleton, Charlton, Charlot, Corlett.

## 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.