Denton
Masculine · “valley settlement”
Denton is an English place name and one of the commonest kinds: a settlement in a valley. There are Dentons scattered from Norfolk to Lancashire, all saying the same thing.
How old is the name Denton?
Denton first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Denton alive today was born around 1974, making them about 51 years old. About 3,600 people named Denton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Denton most popular?
Denton peaked in 1881, reaching #706 nationally. Today it ranks #3513, 2,807 places below that high. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From denu tun to Denton
The story of Denton
Denu named a long shallow valley, distinct from the steeper dael, and Anglo-Saxon settlers used it constantly in place names. Families took the names from the places when surnames fixed, and Denton reached America with English settlement. It appears in nineteenth-century American given-name records in real numbers and has been in quiet use since, alongside Weston, Preston and Colton.
Meaning
valley settlement
From Old English denu, a valley, and tun, a farmstead or settlement; the same first element closes Dryden, Marsden and Hazeldene.
How the name formed
- denu tun
- Denton
Related forms: Denton
Pronouncing Denton
DEN-tuhn
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation.
Nicknames for Denton
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
- 199372 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #706reached in 1881
- Change vs 2023
- −15.8%32 in 2025, from 38
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.
Denton in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Denton in English — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina, Louisiana.
Dentons among us
people named Denton are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 53,377 born in 2025 was named Denton
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
Denton 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 Denton is headed
Denton 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.
Denton beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Denton in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled place-name meaning drawn from a real landscape.
- Den and Denny are both plain short forms that work at any age.
- Genuine nineteenth-century American use, so it is a revival rather than an invention.
- It reads as a surname to people meeting it in front of another one.
- A Texas city and county share the name, which is the first association for some.
- It sits in a crowded group of -ton names in current American use.
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What they receive
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Denton
Masculine · #3513 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dentons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,600 people named Denton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Denton in 2025?
- Denton ranks #3513 among US boy names in 2025, with 32 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Denton?
- About 1 in every 53,377 US boys born in 2025 was named Denton — 32 in all.
- Will my child share the name Denton with classmates?
- Denton will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Denton
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Bradford#3513 · Harden#3513 · Geronimo#3513 · Breon#3513 · Hashem#3513 · Jamere#3513 · Hazael#3513 · Leslie#3513
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Denton? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Denton and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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