How common is the surname Paxton?

11,754 people in the United States had the surname Paxton in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 26,267 Americans. It ranked 3,049th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Paxton?

Bill Paxton, American actor and filmmaker (1955–2017), followed by Sara Paxton.

Where is the surname Paxton most common?

Wikidata records people named Paxton in the United States.

Is the surname Paxton getting more or less common?

More common. 11,013 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 11,754 in 2010, up 6.7%.

Is Paxton also a first name?

Yes. Paxton 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 Paxton

An English place surname, carried by 11,754 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex P235 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). Paxton is more common than 98.1% of them.

Origin

English origin

From Old English *Pæcces + tūn (literally “settlement of (a person named) *Pæcc”).

Paxton 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 11,754 people named Paxton in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 26,267 Americans. That is up 6.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 11,013.

#3,049

rank among US surnames

11,754

people in 2010

4.0

per 100,000 Americans

+6.7%

change since 2000 (was #3,019)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#3,040	Halverson	11,781	26,207
#3,041	Speer	11,770	26,232
#3,042	Amaro	11,769	26,234
#3,043	McMillian	11,765	26,243
#3,044	Ponder	11,764	26,245
#3,045	Beckett	11,763	26,247
#3,046	Applegate	11,762	26,249

Who is named Paxton

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

86% of people named Paxton identified as white (not Hispanic), 8.1% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 86%
Black (not Hispanic) 8.1%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
Two or more races 2.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Paxtons

8 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Bill Paxton
American actor and filmmaker (1955–2017)
Sara Paxton
American actress (born 1988)
Tom Paxton
American folk singer and singer-songwriter, born 1937
Robert Paxton
American political scientist and historian, born 1932
Steve Paxton
American experimental dancer and choreographer (1939–2024)
William McGregor Paxton
American artist (1869–1941)
James Paxton
American actor (born 1994)
Elizabeth Okie Paxton
American painter (1878–1972)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Paxton

Pixton

Paxton has the Soundex code P235, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code P235.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Paxton come from?: From Old English *Pæcces + tūn (literally “settlement of (a person named) *Pæcc”).
How common is the surname Paxton?: 11,754 people in the United States had the surname Paxton in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 26,267 Americans. It ranked 3,049th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Paxton?: In the 2010 Census, 86% of people named Paxton identified as white (not Hispanic), and 8.1% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Paxton?: Bill Paxton, American actor and filmmaker (1955–2017), followed by Sara Paxton.
Where is the surname Paxton most common?: Wikidata records people named Paxton in the United States.
What type of surname is Paxton?: Paxton is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Paxton getting more or less common?: More common. 11,013 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 11,754 in 2010, up 6.7%.
Is Paxton also a first name?: Yes. Paxton 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.