Johnston
Of English origin, a diminutive form of the masculine name John.
Name Census estimates that about 417 living Americans carry the first name Johnston. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Johnston today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Johnston births was 2007 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Johnston. 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
417
~ 1 in 821,953 Americans
Peak year
2007
18 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,608
Tracked since 1914
Popularity
Johnston: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Johnston from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 105 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Johnston remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Johnston 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 Johnston 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 Johnston
The name Johnston has its origins in the medieval Scottish culture, specifically stemming from the personal name John. The name was initially derived from the Gaelic form of John, "Iain" or "Ian," which was then combined with the Scottish diminutive suffix "-ston" or "-ton," resulting in the formation of "Johnston."
This name gained prominence in Scotland during the 12th and 13th centuries, when it became a common practice to adopt surnames based on one's father's given name. As such, Johnston was likely used as a patronymic surname, indicating that the bearer was the son of someone named John.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Johnston can be found in the Ragman Rolls, a series of historical documents from the late 13th and early 14th centuries that recorded the names of Scottish nobles who swore allegiance to King Edward I of England. Several individuals with the surname Johnston are listed in these rolls, indicating the name's presence in Scotland during that time period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the first name Johnston. One of the most famous was Johnston McCulley (1883-1958), an American novelist and writer best known for creating the legendary character Zorro. Another prominent figure was Johnston Terrell (1923-2005), an American lawyer and civil rights activist who played a crucial role in the desegregation of public schools in the United States.
In the world of sports, Johnston Whitley (1898-1964) was an American professional baseball player who spent several seasons in Major League Baseball during the 1920s and 1930s. Additionally, Johnston Shearer (1876-1932) was a Scottish professional golfer and one of the pioneers of the sport in the early 20th century.
Finally, Johnston Atoll, an unorganized and unincorporated territory of the United States located in the Pacific Ocean, was named after Captain Joseph Johnston, an American naval officer who discovered the atoll in 1807.
While the name Johnston has been widely used as a surname, its roots as a given name can be traced back to the medieval Scottish culture, where it originated as a derivative of the name John and eventually gained recognition throughout various regions and historical periods.
People
Johnston + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Johnston as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Johnston: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Johnston?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 417 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Johnston 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 821,953 US residents.
Is Johnston a common name?
We classify Johnston as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 506 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Johnston most popular?
The single biggest year for Johnston was 2007, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Johnston is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Johnston a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Johnston 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.