Dalton
Masculine
Dalton is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 85,710 boys against 432 girls since 1880.
Dalton began as the name of places, not people — a scattering of English villages built where a valley met farmland, each one plainly called "the settlement in the dale." Families took the place name with them, first as a surname and then, in America, around to the front. It has been in continuous use here across generations, familiar on sight without ever crowding a classroom.
How old is the name Dalton?
Dalton first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Dalton alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 79,500 people named Dalton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dalton most popular?
Dalton peaked in 1994, reaching #85 nationally. Today it ranks #448, 363 places below that high. See the whole 1994 chart.
Dalton appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Old English dæl + tūn to Dalton
The story of Dalton
There is no single Dalton in England; there are many, in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria and Durham, all named the same practical way for a farm or hamlet sitting in a dale. Medieval families who came from such a place were known by it, and Dalton became one of the well-established English surnames, carried to North America with the migrations of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Its most famous English bearer, the chemist John Dalton, gave the world an early atomic theory and, for a long while, his own name to color blindness — daltonism. Like many British surnames, it crossed to first-name use in America, where it has stayed put ever since.
Meaning
valley settlement or valley farmstead
From Old English dæl, "valley, dale," and tūn, "enclosure, farmstead, settlement" — the same tūn that ends hundreds of English town and surname forms.
How the name formed
- Old English dæl + tūn
- DaltonEnglish place name
- Daltonsurname
- Daltongiven name
Pronouncing Dalton
DAWL-tuhn
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the l fully sounded. Some American speakers say DAHL-tuhn; both are accepted and no one will correct you.
Nicknames for Dalton
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
- 1881
- Most boys named
- 20004,445 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #85reached in 1994
- Change vs 2022
- +21.8%699 in 2025, from 574
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.
Dalton in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, California.
Daltons among us
people named Dalton are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,444 born in 2025 was named Dalton
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Darrell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dalton's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Darrell climbed just as high around 1967, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Darrell's path sketches the road Dalton is walking now.
Dalton 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 Dalton is headed
Dalton 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.
Dalton beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dalton in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds and read correctly on first sight by nearly everyone in the English-speaking world.
- A documented English place name and surname going back to the medieval period, with an unbroken written record.
- Works on a form, a diploma or a name tag without explanation — it reads as a surname-style name, a style long naturalized in American naming.
- Common enough to be recognized instantly, uncommon enough that duplicates in one classroom are unlikely.
- Daulton and Delton exist as separate spellings, so expect an occasional query about which one you mean — though Dalton is the form people default to.
- Because it rose to prominence with a particular wave of surname names, many Daltons are now young adults rather than children, which gives the name a generational tint for some listeners.
- The Dalton Gang, brothers who robbed banks and trains in the American West in the 1890s, still shows up in Old West histories and place names. It is a footnote rather than a shadow, but you may hear it mentioned.
- Short forms are limited: Dalt and Dal both work, but neither is widely established, so the full name will likely do most of the daily work.
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What they receive
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Dalton
Masculine · #448 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Daltons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 79,500 people named Dalton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dalton in 2025?
- Dalton ranks #448 among US boy names in 2025, with 699 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dalton?
- About 1 in every 2,444 US boys born in 2025 was named Dalton — 699 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dalton with classmates?
- Dalton will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dalton
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Bo#449 · Prince#447 · Yusuf#449 · Apollo#445 · Kane#451 · Uriel#445 · Rome#452 · Valentino#444
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dalton? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dalton and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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