Barton
Masculine · “Old English bere and tun”
A barn is a barley house. Old English bere, barley, plus ern, a building, gave berern and then barn, and the same bere is the first half of Barton, a barley farm. The commonest agricultural building in England is named after one crop and nobody has noticed for a thousand years.
How old is the name Barton?
Barton was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Barton alive today was born around 1955, making them about 70 years old. About 5,700 people named Barton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Barton most popular?
Barton peaked in 1888, reaching #442 nationally. Today it ranks #8910, 8,468 places below that high. See the whole 1888 chart.
Where it comes from
From beretun to Barton
The story of Barton
Old English words for buildings and crops are unusually transparent once the compounds are pulled apart. Bere is barley; ern is a house or store; berern contracted to bern and then barn. Beretun, barley farm, gave Barton, and in medieval usage a barton was specifically the home farm a lord kept in hand rather than leasing out, which is why the name attaches to so many manorial sites. The same tun ending built thousands of English place names and eventually the word town. Other survivals are just as flat: a wife was originally simply a woman, a lord was a loaf-keeper, hlafweard, and a lady a loaf-kneader, hlaefdige. Old English named things by what they did with a directness that later borrowings from French and Latin covered over, which is why English now has a plain word and a formal word for almost everything.
Meaning
Old English bere and tun, barley farm
Barton is from Old English beretun, a barley farm or a grange, later used specifically for the demesne farm attached to a manor. It is one of the commonest English place names and the surname derives from any of them. The first element, bere, barley, also gives barn, from berern, a barley house. The American peak of the given name is 1888.
How the name formed
- beretun
- Barton
Related forms: Bartton
Pronouncing Barton
BAR-tun
Two syllables, stress on the first. The -ton is unstressed and its vowel is a schwa, as in every English place name ending the same way.
Nicknames for Barton
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
- 1958230 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #442reached in 1888
- Change vs 2021
- +33.3%8 in 2025, from 6
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.
Barton in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Bartton in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Bartons among us
people named Barton are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 213,510 born in 2025 was named Barton
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
Barton 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
Barton beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Barton in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Bart is available as a short form and is a name on its own.
- It is a genuine English place name with a documented etymology.
- Two syllables with a firm first-syllable stress.
- Bart carries a strong cartoon association in American use.
- It reads clearly as a surname.
- The 1888 peak places it deep in the nineteenth century.
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Barton
Masculine · #8910 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Bartons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,700 people named Barton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Barton in 2025?
- Barton ranks #8910 among US boy names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Barton?
- About 1 in every 213,510 US boys born in 2025 was named Barton — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Barton with classmates?
- Barton will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Barton
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Davie#8910 · Ned#8910 · Darious#8910 · Alois#8910 · Len#8910 · Desmon#8910 · Ellery#8910 · Winfield#8910
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Barton? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Barton and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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