Find out how popular the last name Appleton is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Appleton.

Appleton, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Appleton surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Appleton in America

Appleton is the 6132nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Appleton surname appeared 5,588 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Appleton.

We can also compare 2010 data for Appleton to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Appleton

The surname Appleton is of English origin and derives from the Old English words "aeppel" meaning apple and "tun" meaning an enclosure or settlement. It is a locational surname, indicating the name originated from a place where apple trees grew in abundance, likely a settlement or village named Appleton.

The name Appleton can be traced back to the 11th century in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is recorded as "Apeltuna" in Yorkshire. This early record suggests the surname was already in use before the Norman Conquest of 1066.

In the 13th century, the surname appeared in various records as "de Apelton" and "de Appilton", reflecting the common practice of adding the preposition "de" to indicate a person's place of origin.

One of the earliest known bearers of the surname was Robert de Apilton, who was mentioned in the Assize Rolls of Yorkshire in 1260.

Notable individuals with the surname Appleton include Sir Isaac Appleton (1616-1692), an English merchant and politician who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1661. Jesse Appleton (1772-1819) was an American educator and theologian who served as the president of Bowdoin College from 1807 to 1819.

Thomas Appleton (1612-1670) was an early settler in New England and a co-founder of the town of Ipswich, Massachusetts. His descendants included several prominent figures, such as Nathan Appleton (1779-1861), a successful merchant and philanthropist, and Samuel Appleton (1766-1853), a businessman and philanthropist who was a member of the Massachusetts State Senate.

Another notable bearer of the name was Sir Edward Appleton (1892-1965), an English physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1947 for his contributions to the study of the ionosphere.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Appleton

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Appleton.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Appleton was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Appleton has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Appleton was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Appleton, please contact us.

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