Elton
English name of uncertain origin, possibly an evolved form of an Old English name.
Name Census estimates that about 10,604 living Americans carry the first name Elton. It is a predominantly male name (99.1% of registrations). The average person named Elton today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elton births was 1920 (408 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elton. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Elton with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Elton is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 200 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 32,323 Americans
Peak year
1920
408 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,074
Tracked since 1880
Census
Elton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,295 people with the first name Elton, which placed it at #2,417 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
#2,417
National first-name rank
People counted
10K
10,295 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elton is White at 50.2%. The next largest groups are Black (32.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.2%). 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 Elton 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 Elton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.2% · 5,164
- Black or African American32.6% · 3,359
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.2% · 638
- Hispanic or Latino6.2% · 637
- Two or more races2.9% · 299
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 198
Gender
Gender distribution for Elton
Out of the 21,492 babies given the name Elton since 1880, 99.1% 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.
Elton as a male name
- Ranked #2,074 in 2024
- 72 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (394 births)
Elton as a female name
- Ranked #9,152 in 2021
- 11 female births in 2021
- Peak: 1920 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elton appears almost entirely male. Of the 10,295 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Elton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elton from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 3,618 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
Elton 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 Elton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Eltons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Elton, while Idaho, Delaware, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 370 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elton
The name Elton is an English masculine given name derived from the Old English words "el" meaning "elder tree" and "tun" meaning "enclosure" or "settlement". It essentially means "elder tree town" or a settlement near an elder tree.
In medieval times, the name was commonly spelled as Elton, Eltun, or Aeltun. It was a locational surname given to someone who lived near an elder tree settlement before becoming an established first name in its own right. The earliest recorded example of the name dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as a place name.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Elton of Beverley, an English Catholic saint who lived in the 11th century. He was a renowned hermit and monk known for his piety and asceticism. Another historical figure with the name was Sir Elton Wood (1592-1670), an English lawyer and politician who served as Lord Mayor of London.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the name Elton gained popularity among the English gentry and nobility. Notable bearers include Sir Elton Hampden (1588-1634), an English politician and military commander who fought in the English Civil War, and Elton Broughton (1609-1681), an English writer and religious philosopher.
In more recent history, the name has been borne by several prominent individuals, including Elton Dean (1945-2006), an English saxophonist and composer known for his work in the jazz and rock genres, and Sir Elton John (born 1947), the internationally acclaimed English singer, songwriter, and composer.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Elton
People
Elton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elton 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
Elton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,604 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elton 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 32,323 US residents.
Is Elton a common name?
We classify Elton as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 21,492 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elton most popular?
The single biggest year for Elton was 1920, when 408 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elton 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 Elton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,295 people with the name Elton, or 3.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,417 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 Elton 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 Elton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elton appears almost entirely male. Of the 10,295 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Elton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elton is White at 50.2%. The next largest groups are Black (32.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.2%). 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 Elton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Elton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.2% (5,164 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 Elton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elton a male name?
Yes, 99.1% of people registered as Elton 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 Elton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elton 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 Elton 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 are called Elton?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.