Paydon
A masculine name possibly deriving from the English word "pay" and "don".
Name Census estimates that about 118 living Americans carry the first name Paydon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Paydon today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Paydon births was 2004 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Paydon. 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
118
~ 1 in 2,904,698 Americans
Peak year
2004
12 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2012 SSA rank
#7,984
Tracked since 1988
Census
Paydon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 191 people with the first name Paydon, which placed it at #39,504 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
#39,504
National first-name rank
People counted
191
191 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Paydon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Paydon is White at 79.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.9%) and Black (6.3%). 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 Paydon 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 Paydon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.1% · 151
- Two or more races7.9% · 15
- Black or African American6.3% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 1
Popularity
Paydon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Paydon from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 76 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
Paydon 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 Paydon 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 Paydon
The given name Paydon is of uncertain origin, with no clear consensus among scholars regarding its etymology or historical roots. Some linguists believe it may be derived from an ancient Germanic language, possibly related to the Old English word "pædan," meaning "to lead" or "to guide." Others speculate that it could have roots in Celtic or Gaulish dialects, though concrete evidence is lacking.
Despite the ambiguity surrounding its origins, the name Paydon has appeared sporadically throughout history, often associated with individuals of note. One of the earliest recorded uses of the name can be found in a 9th-century monastic chronicle from the Benedictine monastery of St. Gall, which mentions a monk named Paydon who was renowned for his calligraphic skills.
In the 12th century, a Paydon de Montfort was a prominent figure in the Second Crusade, serving as a knight under King Louis VII of France. His exploits were documented in several contemporary accounts of the Crusades, though details of his life beyond his military service are scarce.
During the Renaissance, a Paydon Filippi was a celebrated Italian painter and fresco artist, best known for his works adorning the Cathedral of Siena. He lived from approximately 1470 to 1542 and was praised for his innovative use of color and perspective.
In the 17th century, a Paydon Bancroft was a respected English clergyman and theologian, serving as the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1677 to 1692. He was a vocal opponent of the Catholic Church and played a significant role in the Glorious Revolution that brought William III and Mary II to the English throne.
More recently, in the 20th century, Paydon Cullen was an Irish poet and novelist, born in 1906 and renowned for his vivid depictions of life in rural Ireland. His most famous work, "The Bog Meadows," won the prestigious Hawthornden Prize in 1938 and is still widely studied in literature courses today.
While the name Paydon may be shrouded in mystery regarding its precise origins, it has undoubtedly left its mark on history, borne by individuals from diverse backgrounds and achieving varying levels of renown across multiple eras and disciplines.
People
Paydon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Paydon 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
Paydon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Paydon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 118 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Paydon 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 2,904,698 US residents.
Is Paydon a common name?
We classify Paydon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 120 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Paydon most popular?
The single biggest year for Paydon was 2004, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Paydon is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Paydon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 191 people with the name Paydon, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,504 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 Paydon 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 Paydon?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Paydon on both sides of the split. Of the 187 people counted with this name, 147 were male (78.6%) and 40 were female (21.4%). 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 Paydon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Paydon is White at 79.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.9%) and Black (6.3%). 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 Paydon most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Paydon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.1% (151 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 Paydon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Paydon a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Paydon 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 Paydon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Paydon 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 Paydon 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 Paydon?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Paydon at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.