Broughton
An English habitational name from places so named meaning "town at the brook."
Name Census estimates that about 13 living Americans carry the first name Broughton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Broughton today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Broughton births was 1915 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Broughton. 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 Broughton. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
13
~ 1 in 26,365,718 Americans
Peak year
1915
10 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
2017 SSA rank
#10,981
Tracked since 1915
Census
Broughton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 126 people with the first name Broughton, which placed it at #49,344 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
#49,344
National first-name rank
People counted
126
126 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Broughton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Broughton is White at 80.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.7%) and Black (5.6%). 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 Broughton 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 Broughton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.2% · 101
- Two or more races8.7% · 11
- Black or African American5.6% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 1
Popularity
Broughton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Broughton from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 22 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Broughton 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 Broughton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Broughtons live
Origin
Meaning and history of Broughton
The name Broughton is an English name derived from the Old English words "burg" meaning "fort" or "fortified place" and "tun" meaning "town" or "settlement". It is believed to have originated as a place name in the 7th or 8th century, referring to a fortified town or settlement.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Broughton can be found in the Domesday Book, a survey of land and property conducted in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The Domesday Book lists several places with the name Broughton, indicating that it was already a well-established place name by the late 11th century.
In the Middle Ages, Broughton was a relatively common surname in England, often derived from the name of the place where a person lived or was born. Over time, some families adopted the surname Broughton as a given name, particularly for male children.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the given name Broughton was Broughton Whithed (1599-1662), an English clergyman and religious writer. Another early bearer of the name was Broughton Mainwaring (1726-1782), a British naval officer who served during the American Revolutionary War.
In the 19th century, Broughton gained popularity as a given name, particularly among the upper classes in England. One notable bearer of the name from this period was Broughton Leigh Bunbury (1836-1900), a British colonial administrator who served as the Lieutenant Governor of British Honduras (now Belize) from 1875 to 1884.
Other famous individuals named Broughton include Broughton Brandenburg (1837-1909), an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri, and Broughton Young (1900-1994), a British writer and journalist who worked for various publications, including The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Times.
While the name Broughton has its origins in Old English and has been used as a given name for centuries, it has remained relatively uncommon compared to many other English names. However, its historical roots and associations with fortified settlements and places of significance have contributed to its enduring appeal as a unique and distinctive name choice.
People
Broughton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Broughton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Broughton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Broughton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Broughton 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 26,365,718 US residents.
Is Broughton a common name?
We classify Broughton as "Very Rare". It ranks above 33.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 65 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Broughton most popular?
The single biggest year for Broughton was 1915, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Broughton is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Broughton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 126 people with the name Broughton, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #49,344 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 Broughton 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 Broughton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Broughton leans strongly male. 123 people counted with this name were male (93.9%), compared with 8 female bearers (6.1%). 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 Broughton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Broughton is White at 80.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.7%) and Black (5.6%). 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 Broughton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Broughton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.2% (101 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 Broughton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Broughton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Broughton 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 Broughton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Broughton 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 Broughton 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 Americans are named Broughton?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.