# Fenton (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/fenton/  
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.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 16,017 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,274 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 19,276 people |
| Change since 2000 | +5.2% (15,220 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈfɛn.tən/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Finton |

## Etymology

From Middle English Fenton, from Old English fenn (“fen, marsh”) + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Fenton 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) | 88% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 6.5% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4% |
| Two or more races | 1.5% |

## Where

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

## People named Fenton

- Leslie Fenton, actor, film director (1902-1978)
- Mildred Adams Fenton, American paleontologist (1899-1995)
- Reuben Fenton, American politician (1819-1885)
- Georgia-Mae Fenton, British artistic gymnast
- Mark Fenton, American actor (1866–1925)
- Frank Fenton, American actor (1906–1957)

## Similar surnames

Fontenot, Fountain, Fontaine, Fontana, Fontanez, Fontanilla, Fountaine, Fandino.

## 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.