Walton
Of English origin, a town name meaning "valley settlement".
Name Census estimates that about 2,468 living Americans carry the first name Walton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Walton today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Walton births was 1922 (156 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Walton. 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
2.5K
~ 1 in 138,879 Americans
Peak year
1922
156 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,315
Tracked since 1880
Census
Walton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,565 people with the first name Walton, which placed it at #6,287 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
#6,287
National first-name rank
People counted
2.6K
2,565 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Walton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Walton is White at 74.6%. The next largest groups are Black (13.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.5%). 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 Walton 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 Walton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.6% · 1,913
- Black or African American13.7% · 352
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 116
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 93
- Two or more races2.4% · 62
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 29
Gender
Gender distribution for Walton
Out of the 5,843 babies given the name Walton since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Walton as a male name
- Ranked #3,315 in 2024
- 36 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1922 (151 births)
Walton as a female name
- Ranked #5,763 in 1922
- 5 female births in 1922
- Peak: 1916 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Walton leans strongly male. 2,514 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 55 female bearers (2.1%).
Popularity
Walton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Walton from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,099 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Walton 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 Walton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Waltons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Walton, while West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 75 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Walton
The name Walton has its origins in Old English, deriving from the words "weald" meaning "forest" and "tun" meaning "enclosure" or "settlement". It was originally an English surname given to people who lived in or near a wooded area, specifically a forest settlement. The name can be traced back to the 11th century and was particularly prevalent in areas like Yorkshire and Lancashire in northern England.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Walton dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a comprehensive survey of landholdings across England commissioned by William the Conqueror. In this record, several places with the name Walton were listed, indicating the presence of individuals bearing this surname at the time.
Throughout history, the name Walton has been associated with notable figures across various fields. One of the most renowned individuals was Izaak Walton (1593-1683), an English writer best known for his classic work "The Compleat Angler", a celebrated treatise on the art of fishing. This book, published in 1653, is considered a literary masterpiece and has had a lasting impact on the sport of angling.
Another significant figure with the name Walton was William Walton (1902-1983), an English composer who made significant contributions to the world of classical music. His works, including the orchestral piece "Belshazzar's Feast" and the opera "Troilus and Cressida", are widely acclaimed and have earned him a place among the most influential British composers of the 20th century.
In the realm of science, Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton (1903-1995) was an Irish physicist who, along with John Douglas Cockcroft, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1951 for their pioneering work on the splitting of the atomic nucleus by artificially accelerated atomic particles.
Another notable figure bearing the name Walton was Sam Walton (1918-1992), an American businessman and entrepreneur who founded the retail giant Walmart. His innovative approach to retailing and emphasis on low prices revolutionized the industry and made Walmart one of the largest companies in the world.
Lester Frank Walton (1882-1965) was an American film director and producer who played a significant role in the early days of Hollywood. He directed numerous silent films and was known for his technical innovations in the industry, including the development of new camera techniques.
While the name Walton has its roots in Old English, it has transcended its origins and has been adopted across various cultures and regions over the centuries, with individuals bearing this name leaving their mark in various fields, from literature and music to science, business, and entertainment.
People
Walton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Walton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Walton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Walton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,468 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Walton 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 138,879 US residents.
Is Walton a common name?
We classify Walton as "Rare". It ranks above 94.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,843 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Walton most popular?
The single biggest year for Walton was 1922, when 156 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Walton is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Walton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,565 people with the name Walton, or 0.85 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,287 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 Walton 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 Walton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Walton leans strongly male. 2,514 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 55 female bearers (2.1%). 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 Walton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Walton is White at 74.6%. The next largest groups are Black (13.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.5%). 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 Walton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Walton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.6% (1,913 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 Walton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Walton a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Walton 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 Walton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Walton 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 Walton 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 common is the name Walton?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Walton at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.