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

Fulton, 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 Fulton surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Fulton in America

Fulton is the 1083rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Fulton surname appeared 32,258 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 11 people would have the surname Fulton.

We can also compare 2010 data for Fulton 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 Fulton

The surname Fulton originates from England and dates back to the 12th century. It is derived from the Old English words "ful" meaning "muddy" or "foul" and "tun" meaning "town" or "settlement". This suggests the name refers to a person who lived in a muddy or unpleasant town or village.

One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Fulton can be found in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire from 1166, where it appears as "Fulton". The Pipe Rolls were a record of financial accounts kept by the English Crown.

The Fulton surname is also found in the Hundred Rolls of 1273, which were census-like records of landowners in England at the time. In these rolls, the name is spelled as "Fultone".

There are several place names in England that likely contributed to the Fulton surname, such as Fulton in Yorkshire and Fulton in Staffordshire. These place names may have originally been spelled as "Fultun" or "Fultone".

One notable person with the surname Fulton was Robert Fulton (1765-1815), the American engineer and inventor who is credited with developing the first commercially successful steamboat. He was born in Pennsylvania to Irish immigrant parents.

Another famous Fulton was Robert Fulton Cutting (1852-1912), an American lawyer and financier who played a significant role in the development of New York City's subway system.

In the arts, Hamish Fulton (born 1946) is a Scottish artist known for his walking art and landscape photography.

Sir Robert Fulton (1855-1923) was a Scottish civil engineer who designed the Usher Bridge in Edinburgh and the Walney Bridge in Cumbria.

Mary Fulton (1854-1928) was a Scottish author and journalist who wrote extensively about her travels and observations of life in different parts of the world.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Fulton

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

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 Fulton 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 Fulton 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 Fulton was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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