Alton
Masculine · “settlement at the river source”
Alton is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 47,457 boys against 375 girls since 1880.
Alton is a town at the source of a river — the Old English word for a spring or a river's head, joined to the word for a settlement. There are Altons across England, and they sit at the top of a stream.
How old is the name Alton?
Alton was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Alton alive today was born around 1945, making them about 80 years old. About 22,000 people named Alton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alton most popular?
Alton peaked in 1904, reaching #78 nationally. Today it ranks #1602, 1,524 places below that high. See the whole 1904 chart.
Alton appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From æwiell + tun to Alton
The story of Alton
Alton in Hampshire sits at the head of the River Wey, which is exactly what its name describes, and other Altons across England do the same. Families from them carried the surname, and it crossed into American given-name use in the nineteenth century — part of the -ton wave that also produced Milton, Clifton, Burton and Preston. Alton peaked in American records around 1918.
Meaningscholars disagree
settlement at the river source
The commonest reading takes the first element from the Old English æwiell, 'river source' or 'spring', plus tun, 'farmstead'. Some Altons instead have eald, 'old', giving 'old town'. Both are documented for different places, so the reading depends on which Alton a family's surname came from.
How the name formed
- æwiell + tun
- Alton
Related forms: Allton · Elton
Pronouncing Alton
AWL-tun
Two syllables, stress on the first. No variation between English accents.
Nicknames for Alton
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1927759 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #78reached in 1904
- Change vs 2022
- +23.3%106 in 2025, from 86
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Alton in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Allton in English — spelling variant
- Elton in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Altons among us
people named Alton are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 16,114 born in 2025 was named Alton
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Alton sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Alton is headed
Alton should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Alton beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alton in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is concrete and describes a real and checkable feature of the places named.
- Al is a completely ordinary short form available immediately.
- Two firm syllables that pair well with almost any surname.
- The first element is genuinely ambiguous between a spring and the word 'old'.
- It reads as a surname to many people, and is strongly period-coded to the early twentieth century.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Alton
Masculine · #1602 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Altons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 22,000 people named Alton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alton in 2025?
- Alton ranks #1602 among US boy names in 2025, with 106 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alton?
- About 1 in every 16,114 US boys born in 2025 was named Alton — 106 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alton with classmates?
- Alton will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alton
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vyom#1602 · Canyon#1602 · Amin#1602 · Usman#1602 · Eddy#1602 · Nakoa#1602 · Phineas#1609 · Steve#1609
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alton? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Alton and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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