Elton
Masculine · “Ella's settlement”
Elton is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 21,353 boys against 200 girls since 1880.
Elton is Ella's farmstead, or the old settlement — an English place name repeated in several counties, whose first element differs from place to place.
How old is the name Elton?
Elton was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Elton alive today was born around 1946, making them about 79 years old. About 10,000 people named Elton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elton most popular?
Elton peaked in 1915, reaching #278 nationally. Today it ranks #2304, 2,026 places below that high. See the whole 1915 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ella + tun to Elton
The story of Elton
Eltons occur in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Huntingdonshire and elsewhere, and families from them carried the surname. It crossed into American given-name use in the nineteenth century alongside Alton, Milton and Clifton, and peaked around 1918. A second, smaller rise followed in the 1970s for an obvious reason.
Meaningscholars disagree
Ella's settlement; old settlement
From an English place name combining tun, 'farmstead', with either the Old English personal name Ella or the word eald, 'old'. Different Eltons give different first elements. The tun is secure; the first is not, and depends on which place a family's surname came from.
How the name formed
- Ella + tun
- Elton
Related forms: Ellton · Alton
Pronouncing Elton
EL-tun
Two syllables, stress on the first. No variation between English accents.
Nicknames for Elton
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
- 1922356 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #278reached in 1915
- Change vs 2022
- −25.0%60 in 2025, from 80
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.
Elton in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ellton in English — spelling variant
- Alton in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Eltons among us
people named Elton are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 28,468 born in 2025 was named Elton
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
Elton 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 Elton is headed
Elton 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.
Elton beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elton in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Documented English places in several counties stand behind it.
- Two firm syllables that pair well with almost any surname.
- It belongs to a coherent family of -ton names.
- One very famous musician dominates the name in modern ears.
- The first element is genuinely ambiguous.
- It is period-coded to the early twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Elton
Masculine · #2304 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Eltons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 10,000 people named Elton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Elton in 2025?
- Elton ranks #2304 among US boy names in 2025, with 60 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elton?
- About 1 in every 28,468 US boys born in 2025 was named Elton — 60 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elton with classmates?
- Elton will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elton
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zian#2304 · Avion#2304 · Lex#2304 · Joab#2304 · Ahmari#2304 · Daxon#2304 · Enoc#2304 · Paris#2304
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elton? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Elton and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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