Saxton
One of Old English origin, meaning "stone village" or "village of stone".
Name Census estimates that about 670 living Americans carry the first name Saxton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Saxton today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Saxton births was 2017 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Saxton. 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
670
~ 1 in 511,574 Americans
Peak year
2017
30 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,835
Tracked since 1976
Census
Saxton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 565 people with the first name Saxton, which placed it at #18,938 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
#18,938
National first-name rank
People counted
565
565 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Saxton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saxton is White at 66.9%. The next largest groups are Black (15.8%) and Hispanic (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 Saxton 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 Saxton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.9% · 378
- Black or African American15.8% · 89
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 42
- Two or more races6.7% · 38
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 9
Popularity
Saxton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Saxton from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 233 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Saxton remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Saxton 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 Saxton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Saxtons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma recorded the most babies named Saxton, while Oklahoma, Georgia, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Saxton
The name Saxton is believed to have originated from the Old English word "seaxe," which means "Saxon" or "of the Saxon people." The Saxons were a Germanic people who played a significant role in the formation of England during the early medieval period.
The name Saxton was likely derived from the term "Seaxan," which was used to refer to the Saxons who settled in various parts of Britain after the withdrawal of Roman troops in the 5th century. This name may have been used to identify individuals who were of Saxon descent or who lived in areas that were predominantly populated by Saxons.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Saxton can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of English landholdings commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. In this document, several individuals with the name Saxton are listed as landowners or tenants in various regions of England.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Saxton. One of the most prominent was Christopher Saxton, an English cartographer and surveyor who lived from around 1542 to 1610. He is best known for creating the first county maps of England and Wales, which were published in his atlas titled "Atlas of the Counties of England and Wales."
Another notable figure was Joseph Saxton, an American civil engineer and surveyor who lived from 1799 to 1873. He played a crucial role in the construction of the Erie Canal and served as the chief engineer for several other major public works projects in the United States.
In the realm of literature, Saxton Burr, an American author and journalist who lived from 1835 to 1900, gained recognition for his works on the Civil War and his contributions to various newspapers and magazines of the time.
Furthermore, John Saxton, an English musician and composer who lived from 1585 to 1644, was renowned for his contributions to the development of early Baroque music. His compositions, particularly his consort music for viols, were highly influential during his lifetime and beyond.
Lastly, Saxton Pope, an American author and adventurer who lived from 1875 to 1926, is remembered for his writings about his travels and experiences in various parts of the world, including his book "Hunting with the Bow and Arrow," which became a classic in the field of archery and hunting.
People
Saxton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Saxton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Saxton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Saxton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 670 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Saxton 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 511,574 US residents.
Is Saxton a common name?
We classify Saxton as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 679 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Saxton most popular?
The single biggest year for Saxton was 2017, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Saxton is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Saxton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 565 people with the name Saxton, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,938 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 Saxton 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 Saxton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Saxton leans strongly male. 533 people counted with this name were male (95.9%), compared with 23 female bearers (4.1%). 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 Saxton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saxton is White at 66.9%. The next largest groups are Black (15.8%) and Hispanic (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 Saxton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Saxton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.9% (378 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 Saxton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Saxton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Saxton 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 Saxton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Saxton 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 Saxton 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 have the name Saxton?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Saxton, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.