Elston
From an Old English surname meaning "from the eastern town".
Name Census estimates that about 717 living Americans carry the first name Elston. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Elston today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elston births was 1961 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elston. 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
717
~ 1 in 478,040 Americans
Peak year
1961
50 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,158
Tracked since 1911
Gender
Gender distribution for Elston
Out of the 1,119 babies given the name Elston since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Elston as a male name
- Ranked #10,158 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1961 (50 births)
Elston as a female name
- Ranked #17,009 in 2016
- 5 female births in 2016
- Peak: 2016 (5 births)
Popularity
Elston: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elston from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 250 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elston 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 Elston during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elstons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Louisiana, Alabama, Texas recorded the most babies named Elston, while California, Missouri, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elston
The given name Elston has its origins in Old English, derived from the words "el" meaning "another" and "tun" meaning "town" or "enclosure." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who lived in a different town or settlement.
During the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, the name was relatively uncommon but can be found in some historical records and documents from that time. One of the earliest known references to the name Elston appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, which recorded landowners and properties across England and Wales.
In the Middle Ages, the name Elston gained some prominence, particularly among the nobility and gentry of England. One notable figure was Sir Elston de Freville, a knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War between England and France in the 14th century.
As time progressed, the name Elston became more widespread, though it remained relatively rare compared to other English names. In the 16th century, Elston Heywood, an English composer and lutenist, gained recognition for his contributions to the development of English music.
Another notable figure was Elston Howard, an American baseball player who played for the New York Yankees from 1955 to 1967. He was a trailblazer as one of the first prominent African American players in the major leagues and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979.
More recently, Elston Gunn was a British actor known for his roles in various television shows and films, including "The Avengers" and "Doctor Who." He was born in 1914 and passed away in 1989.
Elston Turner was an American basketball player and coach, best known for his successful tenure as the head coach of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) men's basketball team from 1986 to 1997. He was born in 1941 and passed away in 2015.
Overall, while not as common as some other English names, Elston has a long and interesting history, with references dating back to the Middle Ages and notable figures across various fields, including sports, music, and entertainment.
People
Elston + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elston as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Elston: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elston?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 717 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elston 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 478,040 US residents.
Is Elston a common name?
We classify Elston as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,119 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elston most popular?
The single biggest year for Elston was 1961, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elston is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Elston a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Elston 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.