Drayton
Masculine · “portage settlement”
Drayton is the settlement by a portage — the Old English dræg, a place where boats were dragged overland.
How old is the name Drayton?
Drayton first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Drayton alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 1,800 people named Drayton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Drayton most popular?
Drayton peaked in 2012, reaching #1863 nationally. Today it ranks #2604, 741 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Drayton appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From dræg tun to Drayton
The story of Drayton
A dræg was the point where a boat had to be hauled overland — between two rivers, or past a weir — and the many English Draytons mark those places on the map. Michael Drayton wrote Poly-Olbion, a verse survey of England in thirty thousand lines. The name is in current American use.
Meaning
portage settlement
From the Old English dræg, 'a place of dragging' — a portage or slipway where boats were hauled between waterways — and tun, 'settlement'. Dozens of English places are Drayton. The elements are documented and the sense specific.
How the name formed
- dræg tun
- Drayton
Related forms: Draiton · Drayten
Pronouncing Drayton
DRAY-tun
Two syllables, stress on the first. Said identically in every English accent.
Nicknames for Drayton
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
- 1915
- Most boys named
- 200966 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1863reached in 2012
- Change vs 2023
- +61.3%50 in 2025, from 31
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.
Drayton in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Draiton in English — spelling variant
- Drayten in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: South Carolina, Texas, Michigan.
Draytons among us
people named Drayton are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 34,162 born in 2025 was named Drayton
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 Kile test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Drayton's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kile climbed just as high around 1987, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kile's path sketches the road Drayton is walking now.
Drayton 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 Drayton is headed
Drayton 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.
Drayton beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Drayton in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That the many Draytons mark real portage points on the map is a first-rate fact.
- Dray is available as a sharp short form.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- It reads unmistakably as a surname.
- The Dray clipping is also a word for a brewer's cart.
- It is very new as a given name.
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What they receive
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Drayton
Masculine · #2604 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Draytons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Drayton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Drayton in 2025?
- Drayton ranks #2604 among US boy names in 2025, with 50 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Drayton?
- About 1 in every 34,162 US boys born in 2025 was named Drayton — 50 in all.
- Will my child share the name Drayton with classmates?
- Drayton will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Drayton
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Yahia#2604 · Larson#2604 · Mazin#2604 · Rowe#2604 · Hendrik#2604 · Dayvon#2604 · Kipton#2604 · Finlay#2604
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Drayton? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Drayton and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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