Paeton
It is an English name likely derived from the French word "peton" meaning a young foot soldier or warrior.
Name Census estimates that about 520 living Americans carry the first name Paeton. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Paeton today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Paeton births was 2008 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Paeton. 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
520
~ 1 in 659,143 Americans
Peak year
2008
47 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2015 SSA rank
#10,886
Tracked since 1993
Census
Paeton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 522 people with the first name Paeton, which placed it at #19,970 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
#19,970
National first-name rank
People counted
522
522 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Paeton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Paeton is White at 72.2%. The next largest groups are Black (12.8%) and Two or More Races (8.4%). 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 Paeton 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 Paeton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.2% · 377
- Black or African American12.8% · 67
- Two or more races8.4% · 44
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Paeton
Paeton leans heavily female at 83.7% of total registrations, but 86 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Paeton as a male name
- Ranked #13,525 in 2015
- 5 male births in 2015
- Peak: 2010 (12 births)
Paeton as a female name
- Ranked #10,886 in 2020
- 9 female births in 2020
- Peak: 2008 (38 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Paeton on both sides of the split. Of the 519 people counted with this name, 130 were male (25.0%) and 389 were female (75.0%).
Popularity
Paeton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Paeton from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 245 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Paeton 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 Paeton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Paetons live
Origin
Meaning and history of Paeton
The name Paeton is believed to have its origins in the ancient Celtic language spoken by the Britons, a group of people who inhabited what is now Great Britain and parts of modern-day France and Spain. The name is thought to be derived from the Celtic word "paidh," which means "portion" or "share."
During the Roman occupation of Britain, which lasted from 43 AD to 410 AD, the Celtic people were heavily influenced by Roman culture and language. It is possible that the name Paeton evolved during this period, as the Romans often adopted and modified local names and words.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Paeton can be found in the Annales Cambriae, a medieval chronicle of Welsh history. The chronicle mentions a "Paetonuis," who was a Welsh prince in the 6th century AD.
In the 9th century, a monk named Paeton is recorded as having lived in the monastery of Iona, an island off the western coast of Scotland. This monk is believed to have been a scribe and is credited with copying several important manuscripts.
During the Middle Ages, the name Paeton was relatively uncommon but still appeared in historical records. In 1295, a man named Paeton de Montford is listed as a landowner in the Domesday Book, a survey of landholdings commissioned by William the Conqueror.
In the 16th century, a Welsh poet and scholar named Paeton ap Rhys (born around 1520) gained recognition for his works, which included translations of classical texts and poems in the Welsh language.
Another notable figure with the name Paeton was Paeton Douglas (1598-1667), a Scottish minister and writer who served as the chaplain to King Charles I of England.
Throughout history, the name Paeton has remained relatively rare, but it has been carried by individuals from various backgrounds and professions. While its exact origins may be difficult to pinpoint, the name's Celtic roots and historical references suggest a rich cultural heritage.
People
Paeton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Paeton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Paeton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Paeton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 520 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Paeton 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 659,143 US residents.
Is Paeton a common name?
We classify Paeton as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 527 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Paeton most popular?
The single biggest year for Paeton was 2008, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Paeton is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Paeton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 522 people with the name Paeton, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,970 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 Paeton 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 Paeton?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Paeton on both sides of the split. Of the 519 people counted with this name, 130 were male (25.0%) and 389 were female (75.0%). 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 Paeton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Paeton is White at 72.2%. The next largest groups are Black (12.8%) and Two or More Races (8.4%). 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 Paeton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Paeton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.2% (377 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 Paeton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Paeton a female name?
Yes, 83.7% of people registered as Paeton in the SSA data are female. 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 Paeton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Paeton 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 Paeton 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 Americans are named Paeton?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Paeton at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.