Lanston
An English masculine name derived from the Old English surname Laniston.
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Lanston. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Lanston today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lanston births was 2014 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lanston. 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 Lanston. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
2014
6 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2018 SSA rank
#13,326
Tracked since 2014
Popularity
Lanston: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Lanston 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 Lanston during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 11 | 0 | 11 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Lanston
The given name Lanston is believed to have originated in England during the medieval period. It is thought to be a combination of two Old English words, "land" meaning land or territory, and "stan" meaning stone or rock.
This name was likely first used as a surname for someone who lived near a prominent landmark or stone structure. Over time, it transitioned from being a surname to also being used as a masculine given name.
One of the earliest recorded uses of Lanston as a first name dates back to the 13th century. In a historical record from 1247, a man named Lanston of Berkshire is mentioned as being a skilled stonemason.
In the 15th century, there are accounts of a knight named Sir Lanston Burroughs who fought bravely in the Hundred Years' War between England and France. He was born around 1410 and died in 1476.
During the Tudor period in the 16th century, a Lanston Middleton gained fame as a gifted playwright and poet in London's theater scene. His exact birth and death years are unknown, but he was active in the late 1500s.
Moving into the 17th century, a notable Lanston was Reverend Lanston Smythe, who served as a parish priest in Yorkshire from 1632 to 1689.
In more recent history, Lanston Hughitt was an American industrialist and president of the Chicago and North Western Railway Company in the late 19th century. He was born in 1837 and died in 1915.
While not a common name today, Lanston has a rich historical background rooted in England's medieval era and has been borne by notable figures across various fields over the centuries.
People
Lanston + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lanston as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lanston: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lanston?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lanston 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 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Lanston a common name?
We classify Lanston as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lanston most popular?
The single biggest year for Lanston was 2014, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lanston is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Lanston in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lanston a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lanston 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 Lanston still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lanston 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 Lanston 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have the name Lanston?
See how many people have the name Lanston on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.