Stockton
Masculine · “settlement by the stockade”
Stockton is an English place name and one of the plainest: a settlement built at or made of stockades — an outlying farm marked out with posts. There are Stocktons all over England.
How old is the name Stockton?
Stockton first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Stockton alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 1,300 people named Stockton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Stockton most popular?
Stockton peaked in 2001, reaching #1960 nationally. Today it ranks #3314, 1,354 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Where it comes from
From stocc tun to Stockton
The story of Stockton
Stocc gave English both stock and stockade, and place names built on it are scattered across the country — Stockton-on-Tees is the best known, and the first passenger railway ran from it. Families took the name and carried it to America, where a California city and a New Jersey signer of the Declaration both bear it. Its use as a given name is recent and American, and it belongs with Weston, Preston and Easton.
Meaning
settlement by the stockade
From Old English stocc, a tree stump or post, and tun, a farmstead; the name described either an outlying dependent settlement or one enclosed by a wooden palisade.
How the name formed
- stocc tun
- Stockton
Related forms: Stockton
Pronouncing Stockton
STOK-tuhn
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation.
Nicknames for Stockton
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
- 1917
- Most boys named
- 202062 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1960reached in 2001
- Change vs 2024
- −12.5%35 in 2025, from 40
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.
Stockton in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Stockton in English — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Utah, Idaho, Texas.
Stocktons among us
people named Stockton are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 48,802 born in 2025 was named Stockton
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 Garin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Stockton's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Garin climbed just as high around 1986, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Garin's path sketches the road Stockton is walking now.
Stockton 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 Stockton is headed
Stockton 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.
Stockton beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Stockton in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled and concrete place-name meaning that needs no research to explain.
- Plain English letters, read correctly at first sight.
- It fits the current group of -ton surname names without being one of the crowded ones.
- The stock- opening carries several English senses, including a financial one, and jokes will follow.
- It reads as a surname to people meeting it in front of another one.
- A well-known basketball player carries the surname, which is the first association for many.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Stockton
Masculine · #3314 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Stocktons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Stockton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Stockton in 2025?
- Stockton ranks #3314 among US boy names in 2025, with 35 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Stockton?
- About 1 in every 48,802 US boys born in 2025 was named Stockton — 35 in all.
- Will my child share the name Stockton with classmates?
- Stockton will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Stockton
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rainier#3314 · Coulter#3314 · Caio#3314 · Kaydon#3314 · Daksh#3314 · Kree#3314 · Calen#3314 · Mathis#3314
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Stockton? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Stockton and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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