Linton
From an estate owned by wealthy descendants or relatives.
Name Census estimates that about 1,152 living Americans carry the first name Linton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Linton today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Linton births was 1922 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Linton. 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 Linton with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 297,530 Americans
Peak year
1922
50 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,683
Tracked since 1883
Census
Linton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,443 people with the first name Linton, which placed it at #9,572 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
#9,572
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,443 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
49.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Linton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Linton is Black at 49.6%. The next largest groups are White (39.8%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Linton 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 Linton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American49.6% · 716
- White39.8% · 574
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 60
- Two or more races3.2% · 46
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 43
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 4
Popularity
Linton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Linton from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 365 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Linton 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 Linton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lintons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Georgia, Louisiana, Florida recorded the most babies named Linton, while Michigan, Tennessee, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 129 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Linton
The name Linton has its origins in Old English and Germanic languages, tracing back to the 8th century AD. It is derived from the combination of the words "lind," meaning lime tree, and "tun," meaning an enclosure or settlement. This suggests that the name may have initially referred to a settlement or village near a lime tree grove.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Linton can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a survey commissioned by William the Conqueror. It lists several places in England with the name Linton, indicating that the name was already in use as a place name by the 11th century.
During the Middle Ages, the name Linton began to be used as a given name for individuals, possibly as a way to identify someone's place of origin or association with a particular Linton settlement. One notable bearer of the name was Sir John Linton, a 14th-century English knight who fought in the Battle of Crécy during the Hundred Years' War.
In the 16th century, the name Linton gained prominence with the birth of Sir Henry Linton (1510-1585), an English courtier and diplomat who served under King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I. He played a significant role in negotiating peace treaties and fostering international relations during his time.
Another notable figure was Robert Linton (1785-1857), a Scottish poet and author who wrote extensively on Scottish history and folklore. His works, such as the "Poems and Songs" collection, helped preserve and promote Scottish literary traditions.
In the 19th century, Eliza Lynn Linton (1822-1898) was a prominent English novelist, essayist, and journalist. She was known for her feminist views and her novel "The True History of Joshua Davidson," which explored themes of social reform and religious skepticism.
More recently, the name gained attention with the birth of Linton Kwesi Johnson (1952-present), a renowned Jamaican-born British poet and activist. He is considered a pioneer of the dub poetry movement and has been influential in promoting black consciousness and social justice through his works.
While the name Linton has its roots in Old English and Germanic languages, it has been embraced across various cultures and countries over the centuries, with notable bearers contributing to literature, politics, and social movements.
People
Linton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Linton 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
Linton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Linton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,152 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Linton 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 297,530 US residents.
Is Linton a common name?
We classify Linton as "Rare". It ranks above 91% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,360 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Linton most popular?
The single biggest year for Linton was 1922, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Linton is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Linton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,443 people with the name Linton, or 0.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,572 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 Linton 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 Linton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Linton leans strongly male. 1,418 people counted with this name were male (98.0%), compared with 29 female bearers (2.0%). 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 Linton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Linton is Black at 49.6%. The next largest groups are White (39.8%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Linton most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Linton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.6% (716 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 Linton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Linton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Linton 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 Linton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Linton 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 Linton 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 have the name Linton?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.