Dolton
An English diminutive of Donald meaning "brown fighter" or "world mighty".
Name Census estimates that about 299 living Americans carry the first name Dolton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dolton today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dolton births was 1995 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dolton. 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.
People living today
299
~ 1 in 1,146,336 Americans
Peak year
1995
18 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2016 SSA rank
#9,931
Tracked since 1917
Popularity
Dolton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dolton from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 113 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Dolton remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dolton 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 Dolton 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 Dolton
Dolton is an English masculine given name with origins that can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon era. The name is believed to have derived from the Old English words "dol" meaning "valley" and "tun" meaning "enclosure" or "settlement." Essentially, Dolton was likely a locational surname referring to someone who lived in a valley settlement.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Dolton can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners and their properties commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. Several individuals with the surname Dolton were listed as landholders in various counties of England at that time.
Dolton gained popularity as a given name during the Middle Ages, particularly among the nobility and gentry. One notable bearer of the name was Sir Dolton de Vere, a 13th-century English nobleman and knight who fought in the Barons' War against King Henry III.
In the 16th century, the name Dolton appeared in literary works, such as the plays of William Shakespeare. In "King Henry IV, Part 2," a character named Dolton is mentioned, though it is unclear whether this was a real person or a fictional character.
Another historical figure who bore the name Dolton was Dolton Radcliffe, an English clergyman who lived in the 17th century. He served as the rector of St. Peter's Church in Northampton and was known for his influential sermons and writings.
In the 19th century, Dolton Sayers was a prominent English architect who designed several notable buildings, including the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel in London. He was born in 1830 and died in 1912.
During the 20th century, Dolton Trumbo was an American screenwriter and novelist who won an Academy Award for his work on the film "Roman Holiday." He was born in 1905 and died in 1976, leaving a lasting impact on the film industry.
While the name Dolton has waned in popularity in recent times, it remains a unique and historically significant name with deep roots in English culture and tradition.
People
Dolton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dolton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Dolton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dolton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 299 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dolton 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 1,146,336 US residents.
Is Dolton a common name?
We classify Dolton as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 451 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dolton most popular?
The single biggest year for Dolton was 1995, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dolton is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Dolton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dolton 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.
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.