How common is the surname Morton?

59,213 people in the United States had the surname Morton in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 5,214 Americans. It ranked 568th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Morton?

Samantha Morton, British actress, followed by Joe Morton.

Where is the surname Morton most common?

Wikidata records people named Morton in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.

How do you pronounce Morton?

Morton is [ˈmɔɹtn̩], 2 syllables.

Is the surname Morton getting more or less common?

More common. 58,788 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 59,213 in 2010, up 0.7%.

Is Morton also a first name?

Yes. Morton is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Morton

An English place surname, carried by 59,213 people in the United States.

Pronounced [ˈmɔɹtn̩] 2 syllables Soundex M635 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Morton is more common than 99.6% of them.

Origin

English origin

From Old English mōr (“moor, marsh”) + tūn (“settlement”).

Morton 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 59,213 people named Morton in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 5,214 Americans. That is up 0.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 58,788.

#568

rank among US surnames

59,213

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+0.7%

change since 2000 (was #509)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#559	Ali	60,002	5,146
#560	Shaffer	59,943	5,151
#561	Lamb	59,913	5,153
#562	Trevino	59,882	5,156
#563	McKenzie	59,595	5,181
#564	Hess	59,486	5,190
#565	Beil	59,463	5,192

Who is named Morton

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

74% of people named Morton identified as white (not Hispanic), 20% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 74%
Black (not Hispanic) 20%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.5%
Two or more races 2.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.9%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Mortons

32 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Samantha Morton
British actress, born 1977
Joe Morton
American actor, born 1947
Kate Morton
Australian novelist, born 1976
Samuel George Morton
American physician and naturalist (1799–1851)
Lachlan Morton
Australian road cyclist, born 1992
Andrew Morton
Australian software engineer, born 1959
Amy Morton
American actress, born 1958
PJ Morton
American musician, born 1981
Oliver P. Morton
American politician (1823–1877)
Julius Sterling Morton
American politician (1832-1902)
Stephanie Morton
Australian cyclist, born 1990
Mark Morton
American musician, born 1972

Notable Mortons come mostly from the United States (26), Australia (4) and the United Kingdom (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Morton

Morton has the Soundex code M635, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code M635.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Morton come from?: From Old English mōr (“moor, marsh”) + tūn (“settlement”).
How common is the surname Morton?: 59,213 people in the United States had the surname Morton in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 5,214 Americans. It ranked 568th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Morton?: In the 2010 Census, 74% of people named Morton identified as white (not Hispanic), and 20% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Morton?: Samantha Morton, British actress, followed by Joe Morton.
Where is the surname Morton most common?: Wikidata records people named Morton in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.
How do you pronounce Morton?: Morton is [ˈmɔɹtn̩], 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Morton?: Morton is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Morton getting more or less common?: More common. 58,788 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 59,213 in 2010, up 0.7%.
Is Morton also a first name?: Yes. Morton is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.