Manton
From an Old English place name meaning "town on the hill".
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Manton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Manton today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Manton births was 1917 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Manton. 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
- • The typical person named Manton is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Mantons were born before 1970.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Manton. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
1917
8 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
1980 SSA rank
#6,880
Tracked since 1916
Census
Manton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 108 people with the first name Manton, which placed it at #52,273 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
#52,273
National first-name rank
People counted
108
108 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Manton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Manton is White at 70.4%. The next largest groups are Black (17.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.4%). 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 Manton 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 Manton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.4% · 76
- Black or African American17.6% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.4% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 2
- Two or more races0.9% · 1
Popularity
Manton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Manton from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 14 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Manton remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Manton 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 Manton 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 Manton
The name Manton is an English given name with origins dating back to the Middle Ages. It derives from the Old English words "munt" and "tun," which together mean "hill settlement" or "town on a hill." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who lived in such a hilltop town or village.
During the medieval period, the name Manton was primarily found in various parts of England, particularly in areas where Old English dialects were spoken. It was likely used as a surname initially, referring to a person's place of origin or residence, before eventually becoming adopted as a first name.
While there are no definitive records of the name Manton appearing in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is possible that it was used in local historical records or administrative documents from medieval England.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Manton was Sir Walter Manton (c. 1620-1667), an English Puritan minister and author who wrote several influential religious works during the 17th century.
Another notable figure bearing the name Manton was Thomas Manton (1620-1677), an English Puritan minister and influential preacher who served as a chaplain to Oliver Cromwell and was a member of the Westminster Assembly.
In the 19th century, Manton Eastburn (1801-1872), an American bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was a prominent figure who held the position of Bishop of Massachusetts from 1842 until his death.
William Manton (1776-1835), a British engineer and inventor, is credited with significant contributions to the development of early steam-powered machinery and engines during the Industrial Revolution.
More recently, Manton Marble Jr. (1917-2015) was an American businessman and philanthropist who served as the chairman and CEO of the Marble Institute, a leading manufacturer of industrial insulation products.
These individuals, spanning different time periods and professions, demonstrate the historical usage and longevity of the name Manton as a given name, primarily within English-speaking cultures and societies.
People
Manton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Manton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Manton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Manton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Manton 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 34,275,434 US residents.
Is Manton a common name?
We classify Manton as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 39 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Manton most popular?
The single biggest year for Manton was 1917, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Manton is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Manton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 108 people with the name Manton, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #52,273 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 Manton 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 Manton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Manton leans strongly male. 105 people counted with this name were male (94.6%), compared with 6 female bearers (5.4%). 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 Manton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Manton is White at 70.4%. The next largest groups are Black (17.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.4%). 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 Manton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Manton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.4% (76 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 Manton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Manton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Manton 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 Manton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Manton 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 Manton 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 Manton?
You can see how many Americans are named Manton on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.