2000
#5,335
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 6,015
First available Census row
Per 100,000 2.23
Rare Last name
Mouton
A French occupational surname referring to a shepherd or a person who tended sheep.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 7,351 Americans carry the last name Mouton. That puts it at #5,254 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 2.14 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 46,627 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Mouton surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
7.4K
1 in 46,627
Census rank
#5,254
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
2.1
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
6.4K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 6,410 bearers of the surname Mouton in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 2.14 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 5254th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Mouton, the largest self-reported group is Black at 46.4%. The next largest groups are White (43.1%) and Two or More Races (5.2%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Mouton
The surname Mouton is of French origin, derived from the Old French word "moton," meaning "sheep" or "mutton." This name likely originated as a descriptive surname given to someone who worked with sheep, such as a shepherd or a dealer in wool or mutton.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Mouton can be traced back to the 13th century in various regions of France, particularly in the northern and central parts of the country. In medieval records, the name appeared in various spellings, including Mouton, Moutton, and Monton, reflecting the regional variations in pronunciation and spelling conventions of the time.
One of the earliest documented references to the name Mouton can be found in the records of the Abbey of Saint-Denis near Paris, where a certain Pierre Mouton is mentioned in a charter dated 1247. Another notable early bearer of the name was Gilles Mouton, a wool merchant from Provins, a town renowned for its wool trade, who is recorded in tax records from the late 13th century.
During the Middle Ages, the Mouton family established itself as a prominent family in the region of Normandy. In the 14th century, a Jean Mouton (c. 1310-1370) was a prominent landowner and knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War. His descendant, Guillaume Mouton (c. 1460-1522), was a renowned composer and master of the chapel royal during the reigns of Louis XII and Francis I.
Another notable individual with the surname Mouton was Gabriel Mouton (1618-1694), a French mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of longitude and contributed to the development of the metric system. He was a member of the French Academy of Sciences and served as the royal hydrographer.
In the 19th century, Paul Mouton (1801-1873) was a French inventor and engineer who patented various improvements in the manufacture of glass and was instrumental in the development of the modern glass industry in France.
The Mouton name has also been associated with several notable winemakers and vineyards in the Bordeaux region of France. One of the most famous is the Château Mouton Rothschild, a premier cru estate established in the 16th century and acquired by the Rothschild family in the 19th century.
While the Mouton surname is most commonly associated with France, it has also spread to other parts of the world through emigration, particularly to former French colonies and territories. However, its roots can be traced back to the Old French word for "sheep," reflecting the occupational origins of this distinctive surname.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mouton
Among Census respondents with the surname Mouton, the largest self-reported group is Black at 46.4%. The next largest groups are White (43.1%) and Two or More Races (5.2%).
The bar chart below shows how Mouton bearers 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 surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Mouton surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American46.4% · 2,974
- White43.1% · 2,761
- Two or more races5.2% · 332
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 284
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 45
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 14
Timeline
Historical Census data for Mouton
Mouton appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#5,329
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 6,535
+520 bearers (+8.6%)
Per 100,000 2.22
Rank movement Up 6 places
2020
#5,254
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 6,410
-125 bearers (-1.9%)
Per 100,000 2.14
Rank movement Up 75 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #5,335 | 6,015 | 2.23 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #5,329 | 6,535 | 2.22 | +520 bearers (+8.6%) | Up 6 places |
| 2020 | #5,254 | 6,410 | 2.14 | -125 bearers (-1.9%) | Up 75 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Mouton surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #5,329 | #5,254 | 1.4% |
| Count | 6,535 | 6,410 | -1.9% |
| Per 100K | 2.22 | 2.14 | -3.4% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Mouton bearers went from 6,535 to 6,410 (-1.9% change). The surname moved up 75 positions in the national ranking, going from #5,329 to #5,254.
FAQ
Mouton surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Mouton?
Name Census estimates that about 7,351 living Americans carry the surname Mouton. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 46,627 residents.
How common is Mouton?
Mouton ranks #5,254 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 2.14 per 100,000 residents, which is about 2 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 6,410 people with the surname Mouton. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (7,351), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 2.14 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 2.14 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 2 of them to have the surname Mouton.
Has Mouton become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Mouton went from 6,535 recorded bearers to 6,410. That is a decrease of 125 (-1.9%). In the national ranking it rose from #5,329 to #5,254.
What does the Census say about the background of Mouton?
Among Census respondents with the surname Mouton, the largest self-reported group is Black at 46.4%. The next largest groups are White (43.1%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
Black is the largest self-reported group for the surname Mouton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.4% (2,974 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Mouton appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are Black (46.4%), White (43.1%), Two or More Races (5.2%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Mouton (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Mouton mean?
A French occupational surname referring to a shepherd or a person who tended sheep. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Mouton (2.14 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people share the surname Mouton?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.