Fulton
Masculine · “fowl enclosure”
Fulton is the fowl enclosure — the Old English fugol, a bird, and tun — so the name is a poultry yard.
How old is the name Fulton?
Fulton first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Fulton alive today was born around 1959, making them about 66 years old. About 1,700 people named Fulton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Fulton most popular?
Fulton peaked in 1887, reaching #583 nationally. Today it ranks #2145, 1,562 places below that high. See the whole 1887 chart.
Where it comes from
From fugol tun to Fulton
The story of Fulton
Fulton is a Scottish and English place name and surname, and the Fultons of Ayrshire carried it to Ulster and America. Robert Fulton built the first commercially successful steamboat. The name entered American given-name use and appears in the registers in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
fowl enclosure
From the Old English fugol, 'bird' or 'fowl', and tun, 'enclosure'. A second reading takes the first element as a personal name or as full, 'dirty'. The fowl reading is the commonest. Fugol also gives the modern 'fowl' and the German Vogel.
How the name formed
- fugol tun
- Fulton
Related forms: Fulton · Vogel
Pronouncing Fulton
FULL-tun
Two syllables, stress on the first. Said identically in every English accent.
Nicknames for Fulton
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
- 1884
- Most boys named
- 202069 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #583reached in 1887
- Change vs 2022
- +11.7%67 in 2025, from 60
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.
Fulton in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Fulton in Scottish — same name
- Vogel in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Minnesota, Kansas.
Fultons among us
people named Fulton are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 25,494 born in 2025 was named Fulton
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
Fulton 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 Fulton is headed
Fulton should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Fulton beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Fulton in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That fugol gives both 'fowl' and the German Vogel is a genuinely good etymology.
- The poultry-yard meaning is concrete and unpretentious.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- It reads unmistakably as a surname.
- The first element is genuinely disputed.
- The meaning is agricultural rather than elevated.
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Fulton
Masculine · #2145 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Fultons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Fulton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Fulton in 2025?
- Fulton ranks #2145 among US boy names in 2025, with 67 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Fulton?
- About 1 in every 25,494 US boys born in 2025 was named Fulton — 67 in all.
- Will my child share the name Fulton with classmates?
- Fulton will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Fulton
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Shayan#2145 · Wendell#2145 · Hosea#2145 · Banner#2145 · Musab#2145 · Alastair#2145 · Jahsir#2145 · Adair#2145
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Fulton? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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