How common is the surname Norton?

63,722 people in the United States had the surname Norton in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 4,845 Americans. It ranked 531st of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Norton?

Edward Norton, American actor, followed by Ken Norton.

Where is the surname Norton most common?

Wikidata records people named Norton in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 1 other country.

How do you pronounce Norton?

Norton is /ˈnɔɹtən/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Norton getting more or less common?

More common. 61,805 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 63,722 in 2010, up 3.1%.

Is Norton also a first name?

Yes. Norton 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 Norton

An English place surname, carried by 63,722 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈnɔɹtən/ 2 syllables Soundex N635 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). Norton is more common than 99.7% of them.

Origin

English origin

From Old English norþ (“north”) + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”). The parish in New Brunswick is named after Norton, Massachusetts.

Norton 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 63,722 people named Norton in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 4,845 Americans. That is up 3.1% since 2000, when the Census counted 61,805.

#531

rank among US surnames

63,722

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+3.1%

change since 2000 (was #485)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#522	Lloyd	64,202	4,809
#523	Mueller	64,191	4,810
#524	Hartman	64,106	4,816
#525	French	63,991	4,825
#526	Kramer	63,936	4,829
#527	McBride	63,899	4,832
#528	Pope	63,881	4,833

Who is named Norton

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

88% of people named Norton identified as white (not Hispanic), 6.5% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 88%
Black (not Hispanic) 6.5%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
Two or more races 1.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.2%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Nortons

29 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Edward Norton
American actor, born 1969
Ken Norton
American boxer (1943-2013)
Andre Norton
American writer of science fiction and fantasy (1912–2005)
James Norton
British actor, born 1985
Eleanor Holmes Norton
American lawyer and politician (born 1937)
Peter Norton
American programmer, software publisher, born 1943
Richard Norton
Australian stuntman and actor, 1950–2025
Barry Norton
Argentine actor (1905-1956)
John Norton
American athlete (1893-1979)
Charles Eliot Norton
American art historian (1827-1908)
Edgar Norton
American actor (1868-1953)
Emerson Norton
American athlete (1900-1986)

Notable Nortons come mostly from the United States (23), the United Kingdom (3) and Australia (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Norton

Norton has the Soundex code N635, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code N635.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Norton come from?: From Old English norþ (“north”) + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”). The parish in New Brunswick is named after Norton, Massachusetts.
How common is the surname Norton?: 63,722 people in the United States had the surname Norton in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 4,845 Americans. It ranked 531st of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Norton?: In the 2010 Census, 88% of people named Norton identified as white (not Hispanic), and 6.5% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Norton?: Edward Norton, American actor, followed by Ken Norton.
Where is the surname Norton most common?: Wikidata records people named Norton in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 1 other country.
How do you pronounce Norton?: Norton is /ˈnɔɹtən/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Norton?: Norton is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Norton getting more or less common?: More common. 61,805 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 63,722 in 2010, up 3.1%.
Is Norton also a first name?: Yes. Norton 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.