Peyten
A modern spelling variation of the masculine name Peyton meaning "estate town".
Name Census estimates that about 632 living Americans carry the first name Peyten. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 79.5% of registrations being female. The average person named Peyten today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Peyten births was 2009 (60 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Peyten. 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
632
~ 1 in 542,333 Americans
Peak year
2009
60 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2016 SSA rank
#11,776
Tracked since 1992
Gender
Gender distribution for Peyten
Peyten is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 639 total registrations, 131 (20.5%) were male and 508 (79.5%) were female.
Peyten as a male name
- Ranked #11,776 in 2016
- 6 male births in 2016
- Peak: 2009 (16 births)
Peyten as a female name
- Ranked #14,809 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (45 births)
Popularity
Peyten: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Peyten 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 313 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
Peyten 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 Peyten during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Peytens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Texas, Michigan recorded the most babies named Peyten, while Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Peyten
The name Peyten is an English given name of modern origin, likely derived from the Middle English surname "Payton" or "Peyton." The name itself does not have a known definitive origin or meaning, but it is thought to be a variant of the Old French name "Peiton" or "Petun," which may have been derived from the Latin name "Petrus," meaning "rock" or "stone."
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Peyten was Sir John Peyton (1544-1630), an English politician and soldier who served as Lieutenant of the Tower of London during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Another notable figure was Ephraim Peyton (1765-1847), an American Revolutionary War soldier and politician who served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates.
In the 19th century, the name gained some popularity in the United States, with individuals such as Balie Peyton (1803-1878), a prominent lawyer and judge in Tennessee, and Walter Peyton (1819-1893), a Baptist minister and educator in Virginia. However, it was not until the 20th century that the name gained wider recognition.
One of the most famous bearers of the name Peyten was Walter Payton (1954-1999), an American professional football player who played for the Chicago Bears in the National Football League (NFL). Considered one of the greatest running backs in NFL history, Payton was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993 and had his number 34 retired by the Bears.
Another notable Peyten was Peyton Rous (1879-1970), an American biomedical scientist who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1966 for his discovery of tumor-inducing viruses. His work laid the foundation for modern cancer research and played a crucial role in understanding the link between viruses and cancer.
While not as common as some other names, Peyten has had a presence throughout history, with notable bearers in various fields, including politics, law, religion, sports, and science. Its popularity has ebbed and flowed over time, but it remains a unique and distinctive name with a rich historical background.
People
Peyten + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Peyten 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
Peyten: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Peyten?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 632 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Peyten 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 542,333 US residents.
Is Peyten a common name?
We classify Peyten as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 639 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Peyten most popular?
The single biggest year for Peyten was 2009, when 60 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Peyten is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Peyten a female name?
Yes, 79.5% of people registered as Peyten 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.
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.