Stanton
From an Old English name meaning "stony town".
Name Census estimates that about 4,058 living Americans carry the first name Stanton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Stanton today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Stanton births was 1954 (115 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Stanton. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Stanton with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.1K
~ 1 in 84,464 Americans
Peak year
1954
115 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,013
Tracked since 1880
Census
Stanton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,014 people with the first name Stanton, which placed it at #4,583 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
#4,583
National first-name rank
People counted
4.0K
4,014 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Stanton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stanton is White at 77.0%. The next largest groups are Black (12.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.9%). 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 Stanton 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 Stanton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.0% · 3,090
- Black or African American12.1% · 485
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 155
- Two or more races3.5% · 139
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 91
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 54
Popularity
Stanton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Stanton from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 980 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Stanton 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 Stanton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Stantons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. California, Pennsylvania, Texas recorded the most babies named Stanton, while West Virginia, Washington, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 77 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Stanton
The name Stanton originates from the Old English words "stan" meaning stone and "tun" meaning town or village, referring to a settlement near a stone or rocky area. It likely emerged during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, around the 5th to 11th centuries.
Stanton was a common place name in England, with many villages and towns bearing the name, such as Stanton Drew in Somerset and Stanton Lacy in Shropshire. The name eventually transitioned from a place name to a personal name, with some of the earliest recorded instances being Stanton of Baginton in the 12th century and Stanton de Stantun in the 13th century.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Stanton was Sir William Stanton, an English judge who served as Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1461 to 1470 during the Wars of the Roses. He was a prominent figure in the legal system during the reigns of Henry VI and Edward IV.
In the 16th century, Edmund Stanton (c. 1511–1578) was an English politician who served as a Member of Parliament for Wiltshire and was involved in the dissolution of the monasteries under King Henry VIII. He played a role in the religious and political upheavals of the English Reformation.
During the 17th century, Stanton was a relatively common name in colonial America, with individuals like Thomas Stanton (c. 1616–1677), an English-born settler who became an interpreter and diplomat, serving as a liaison between the colonists and Native American tribes in New England.
In the 18th century, Stanton emerged as a prominent name in the American Revolutionary War, with individuals like Edmund Stanton (1749–1827), a Continental Army officer who fought in several major battles and later became a respected judge in Rhode Island.
Moving into the 19th century, Edwin M. Stanton (1814–1869) was a prominent American lawyer and politician who served as the 27th United States Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. He played a crucial role in the Union's efforts during the conflict and was known for his organizational skills and dedication to the cause.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Stanton, showcasing its enduring presence across various periods and regions, particularly in England and the United States.
People
Stanton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Stanton 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
Stanton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Stanton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,058 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Stanton 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 84,464 US residents.
Is Stanton a common name?
We classify Stanton as "Rare". It ranks above 96% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,708 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Stanton most popular?
The single biggest year for Stanton was 1954, when 115 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Stanton is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Stanton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,014 people with the name Stanton, or 1.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,583 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 Stanton 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 Stanton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stanton leans strongly male. 3,973 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 49 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Stanton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stanton is White at 77.0%. The next largest groups are Black (12.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.9%). 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 Stanton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Stanton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.0% (3,090 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 Stanton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Stanton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Stanton 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 Stanton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Stanton 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 Stanton 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 Stanton as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Stanton, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.