Grafton
Masculine · “Old English graf and tun”
In the 1890s American parents took names from the English peerage. Percy, Sidney, Clarence, Stanley, Cecil, Howard, Russell, Clifford, Chester and Grafton are all dukedoms, earldoms or the surnames attached to them, and they arrive in the American data together. It was aspiration expressed as vocabulary, and it lasted about forty years.
How old is the name Grafton?
Grafton first appears in US birth records in 1886 — 139 years ago. The typical Grafton alive today was born around 1950, making them about 75 years old. About 600 people named Grafton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Grafton most popular?
Grafton peaked in 1895, reaching #872 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 7,371 places below that high. See the whole 1895 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Grafton
The English aristocratic surname as an American given name is a well-defined nineteenth-century pattern and it is worth reading precisely. These were not names the English gentry gave their own sons; they were surnames and titles, and using one as a first name marked an American family as looking upward and outward. The peak years run from about 1880 to 1920. What ended it was partly the First World War and partly the arrival of a different aspiration, but the mechanism recurs: the same instinct produced the Kennedy, Reagan and Kingston of the 1990s, and the surname-as-first-name is now the dominant style for American boys. Grafton peaks in 1895 and effectively disappears by 1930. Its second element, tun, is the most productive word in English place naming, and it is the source of the -ton on hundreds of modern boys' names.
Meaning
Old English graf and tun, grove settlement
An English place name and surname from Old English graf, a grove or copse, and tun, an enclosed settlement or farm. There are villages called Grafton in at least a dozen English counties. The Dukedom of Grafton was created in 1675, and Grafton Street, Grafton Regis and Grafton, Massachusetts all descend from the place name rather than from each other.
Pronouncing Grafton
GRAF-tun
Two syllables, stress on the first, short a. The second syllable is fully reduced, as it is in every English -ton name, and rhymes with the second syllable of Clifton and Ashton.
Nicknames for Grafton
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
- 1886
- Most boys named
- 191625 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #872reached in 1895
- Change vs 2023
- −18.2%9 in 2025, from 11
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.
Graftons among us
people named Grafton are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Grafton
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
Grafton 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
Grafton beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Grafton in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Both elements have settled Old English meanings.
- It fits the current fashion for surname-shaped boys' names.
- The rhythm is familiar even though the name is not.
- It reads as a surname to most people.
- The name is strongly associated with the late nineteenth century.
- It is rare enough to need spelling out.
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Grafton
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Graftons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Grafton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Grafton in 2025?
- Grafton ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Grafton?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Grafton — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Grafton with classmates?
- Grafton will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Grafton
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Grafton? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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