Patton
Masculine · “little Patrick”
Patton is given to both — 1,664 boys and 99 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Patton is a surname with two roads behind it, one Irish and one English, and in America it has been carried by a general whose reputation reaches the name before either of them does.
How old is the name Patton?
Patton first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Patton alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 1,500 people named Patton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Patton most popular?
Patton peaked in 1945, reaching #1772 nationally. Today it ranks #3240, 1,468 places below that high. See the whole 1945 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Patrick to Patton
The story of Patton
Medieval England and Ireland both made pet forms by adding -in and -on, so Patrick gave Paton and Patton, and Scottish and Irish families carried them. Independently there are Pattons in Shropshire and Westmorland whose name is a place. The surname reached America early and became a given name in the twentieth century, its use rising sharply in the 1940s for reasons that had nothing to do with either etymology.
Meaningscholars disagree
little Patrick, or Patta's settlement
One line makes it a diminutive of Patrick, from Latin patricius, a nobleman, formed with the -on ending medieval English used for pet names. The other takes it from English places called Patton, built on an Old English personal name Patta with tun, a settlement.
How the name formed
- Patrick
- Paton
- Patton
Related forms: Paton · Pádraig
Pronouncing Patton
PAT-uhn
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation.
Nicknames for Patton
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
- 201668 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1772reached in 1945
- Change vs 2023
- −21.7%36 in 2025, from 46
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.
Patton in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Paton in Scots — spelling variant
- Pádraig in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Tennessee, Georgia.
Pattons among us
people named Patton are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 47,447 born in 2025 was named Patton
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 Othello test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Patton's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Othello climbed just as high around 1914, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Othello's path sketches the road Patton is walking now.
Patton 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 Patton is headed
Patton 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.
Patton beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Patton in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two documented histories, Irish and English, both real.
- Pat is a plain short form with centuries of use behind it.
- It fits the current group of -ton surname names without being one of the crowded ones.
- The American general is the first association for most people over forty, and it is a loud one.
- Payton, Patton and Peyton are close enough to be confused in speech.
- It reads as a surname to people meeting it in front of another one.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Patton
Masculine · #3240 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Pattons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Patton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Patton in 2025?
- Patton ranks #3240 among US boy names in 2025, with 36 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Patton?
- About 1 in every 47,447 US boys born in 2025 was named Patton — 36 in all.
- Will my child share the name Patton with classmates?
- Patton will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Patton
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eugenio#3240 · Pace#3240 · Stoney#3240 · Dany#3240 · Rasheed#3240 · Abdirahman#3240 · Mykah#3240 · Lowell#3240
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Patton? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Patton and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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