Morton
From an English surname meaning "marsh town" or "moor town."
Name Census estimates that about 2,111 living Americans carry the first name Morton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Morton today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Morton births was 1923 (482 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Morton. 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 Morton is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Mortons were born before 1960.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 162,366 Americans
Peak year
1923
482 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
2021 SSA rank
#5,358
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Morton
Out of the 12,341 babies given the name Morton since 1880, 100.0% 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.
Morton as a male name
- Ranked #9,404 in 2021
- 8 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1923 (482 births)
Morton as a female name
- Ranked #5,358 in 1918
- 5 female births in 1918
- Peak: 1918 (5 births)
Popularity
Morton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Morton 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 4,335 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
Morton 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 Morton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mortons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois recorded the most babies named Morton, while Wisconsin, North Carolina, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 366 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Morton
The name Morton has its origins in Old English, derived from the words "mor" meaning "moor" or "marsh" and "tun" meaning "farm" or "settlement". It was a common place name in England during the Anglo-Saxon period, referring to settlements located near marshlands or moorlands.
Morton can be traced back to the 11th century, with records showing its use as a surname in the Domesday Book of 1086. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Morton de Mora, who lived in Staffordshire, England, in the late 11th century.
In the Middle Ages, Morton became a popular given name among the English nobility and gentry. It was often associated with landed families who owned estates or manors near marshlands or moors. The name held connotations of wealth, status, and landholding.
One notable historical figure with the name Morton was John Morton, who lived from 1420 to 1500. He was an English prelate who served as the Archbishop of Canterbury and played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses. Another prominent Morton was James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, who lived from 1516 to 1581 and was a Scottish nobleman and regent of Scotland during the minority of King James VI.
In the literary realm, Morton Anderson, an American playwright and screenwriter, was born in 1901 and passed away in 1979. He is best known for his collaboration with George S. Kaufman on the play "What Price Glory?" and the screenplay for the 1942 film "The Talk of the Town".
Morton Feldman, a pioneering American composer of the 20th century, was born in 1926 and died in 1987. He was a significant figure in the development of experimental and avant-garde music, known for his works that explored the boundaries of sound and silence.
Another notable bearer of the name was Morton Sobell, an American electrical engineer who was born in 1917 and died in 2018. He was convicted of espionage in 1951 along with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, although his involvement in the case remains controversial.
While the name Morton has its roots in Old English and was once closely associated with landed gentry, it has since been adopted more broadly across various cultures and demographics. Its meaning and associations have evolved over time, but it remains a name with a rich historical legacy.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Morton
People
Morton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Morton 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
Morton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Morton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,111 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Morton 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 162,366 US residents.
Is Morton a common name?
We classify Morton as "Rare". It ranks above 93.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,341 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Morton most popular?
The single biggest year for Morton was 1923, when 482 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Morton is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Morton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Morton 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.