How common is the surname Pelton?

5,753 people in the United States had the surname Pelton in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 53,667 Americans. It ranked 5,980th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Pelton?

Lester Allan Pelton, American mechanical engineer (1829–1908), followed by Agnes Lawrence Pelton.

Where is the surname Pelton most common?

Wikidata records people named Pelton in the United States and the German Empire.

Is the surname Pelton getting more or less common?

More common. 5,177 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 5,753 in 2010, up 11%.

The surname Pelton

An English place surname, carried by 5,753 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex P435

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Pelton is more common than 96.3% of them.

Origin

English origin

From the Old English personal name *Peola + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”).

Pelton 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 5,753 people named Pelton in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 53,667 Americans. That is up 11% since 2000, when the Census counted 5,177.

#5,980

rank among US surnames

5,753

people in 2010

1.9

per 100,000 Americans

+11.1%

change since 2000 (was #6,108)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#5,971	Wilk	5,763	53,574
#5,973	Sigmon	5,760	53,602
#5,974	Capers	5,759	53,611
#5,975	Rex	5,758	53,620
#5,976	Gregoire	5,757	53,630
#5,977	Sylvia	5,756	53,639
#5,978	Barden	5,755	53,648

Who is named Pelton

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

92% of people named Pelton identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.9% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 92%
Black (not Hispanic) 2.9%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
Two or more races 1.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Peltons

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Lester Allan Pelton
American mechanical engineer (1829–1908)
Agnes Lawrence Pelton
American artist (1881-1961)
Elizabeth Pelton
American swimmer, born 1993

Notable Peltons come mostly from the United States (2) and the German Empire (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Pelton

Pelton has the Soundex code P435, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code P435.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Pelton come from?: From the Old English personal name *Peola + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”).
How common is the surname Pelton?: 5,753 people in the United States had the surname Pelton in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 53,667 Americans. It ranked 5,980th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Pelton?: In the 2010 Census, 92% of people named Pelton identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.9% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Pelton?: Lester Allan Pelton, American mechanical engineer (1829–1908), followed by Agnes Lawrence Pelton.
Where is the surname Pelton most common?: Wikidata records people named Pelton in the United States and the German Empire.
What type of surname is Pelton?: Pelton is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Pelton getting more or less common?: More common. 5,177 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 5,753 in 2010, up 11%.