Allston
From an English place name meaning "old town".
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Allston. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Allston today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Allston births was 2008 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Allston. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Allston. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
2008
6 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2008 SSA rank
#11,101
Tracked since 1998
Census
Allston in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 117 people with the first name Allston, which placed it at #50,838 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#50,838
National first-name rank
People counted
117
117 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Allston
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Allston is White at 72.6%. The next largest groups are Black (17.1%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Allston described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Allston at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.6% · 85
- Black or African American17.1% · 20
- Two or more races4.3% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 3
Popularity
Allston: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Allston from the 1990s through to the 2000s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 6 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Allston by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Allston during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Allston
The given name Allston is of English origin, with its roots tracing back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old English words "ald" meaning "old" and "stan" meaning "stone," collectively referring to an ancient stone structure or building.
This name was initially associated with the village of Allston, located in the county of Somerset, England. Records from the 13th century mention individuals bearing the surname Allston, which later evolved into a given name.
One of the earliest documented instances of the name Allston can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which recorded landowners and their estates in England. The book mentions an individual named Alestan, which is believed to be a variation of the name Allston.
In the 14th century, the name appeared in religious texts and records of the time. Sir Allston de Broke, a knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War, is mentioned in several chronicles from the late 1300s.
During the Renaissance period, the name Allston gained popularity among the English gentry and nobility. A notable figure was Sir Allston Wyvill (1524-1592), a Member of Parliament and landowner in Yorkshire.
In the 17th century, the name Allston gained prominence in the American colonies. Allston Browne (1638-1711) was a influential merchant and politician in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, serving as a member of the colonial council.
Another notable individual was Allston Garden (1685-1756), a plantation owner and member of the South Carolina Provincial Congress during the American Revolutionary War.
In the 19th century, the name Allston was associated with the arts and literature. Washington Allston (1779-1843) was a renowned American painter and poet, often referred to as the "American Titian" for his mastery of color and brushwork.
Allston Hughes (1804-1849) was a British writer and poet, best known for his epic poem "The Miscellaneous Works of the Late Allston Hughes."
The name Allston has also been borne by several other notable individuals throughout history, such as Allston Willet (1823-1908), a Confederate general during the American Civil War, and Allston Dorr (1891-1944), a American physicist and inventor.
People
Allston + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Allston as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Allston: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Allston?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Allston going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Allston a common name?
We classify Allston as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Allston most popular?
The single biggest year for Allston was 2008, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Allston is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Allston in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 117 people with the name Allston, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #50,838 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Allston in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Allston?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Allston leans strongly male. 104 people counted with this name were male (86.0%), compared with 17 female bearers (14.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Allston?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Allston is White at 72.6%. The next largest groups are Black (17.1%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Allston most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Allston in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.6% (85 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Allston in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Allston a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Allston in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Allston still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Allston in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Allston can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Allston as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Allston, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.