Sutton
Feminine · Old English roots · “southern farmstead or settlement”
Sutton is given to both — 12,666 girls and 7,351 boys since 1880. See Sutton as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Sutton began as a direction on a map: the south farm, the settlement below the others. There are Suttons scattered all over England — enough that the name became a surname many times over, in many unrelated families — and it crossed to America the way surnames do, quietly, on ships and in ledgers. Said aloud it is two short beats with a soft middle, ending in that unfussy -on that English place names wear so well.
How old is the name Sutton?
Sutton first appears in US birth records in 1963 — 62 years ago. The typical Sutton is a kid of about 4 — this name's wave is very recent. About 12,500 people named Sutton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sutton most popular?
Sutton peaked in 2025, reaching #181 nationally. Today it ranks #181, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
From sūth tūn (Old English) to Sutton
The story of Sutton
Sutton is one of the most-repeated place names in England, because it described something ordinary: the farm or hamlet lying to the south of somewhere else. Dozens of separate villages carried it by the time of the Domesday survey in the eleventh century, and families who left those villages were identified by them, which is why the surname arose independently in many unconnected lines. From there it followed the well-worn English-American path of surnames becoming first names — a path that gave the country Madison, Harper and Sawyer as well. Its move onto the girls' side got a visible push from the Broadway performer Sutton Foster, who has carried the name in front of audiences for years.
Meaning
southern farmstead or settlement
From Old English sūth (south) and tūn (enclosure, farmstead, village) — the same tūn that ended up as the modern word town.
Cultural footprint
Sutton Foster (b. 1975) — Two-time Tony-winning Broadway star
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- sūth tūnOld English
- SuttonEnglish place name
- SuttonEnglish surname
- Suttongiven name
Pronouncing Sutton
SUT-un
Stress on the first syllable. In most American speech the double t becomes a light tap, close to SUH-tun; the spelling gives no trouble either way.
Nicknames for Sutton
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
- 1963
- Most girls named
- 20251,697 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #181reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +8.7%1,697 in 2025, from 1,561
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.
Sutton in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, Ohio.
Suttons among us
people named Sutton are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 947 born in 2025 was named Sutton
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 Bonita test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sutton's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Bonita climbed just as high around 1950, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bonita's path sketches the road Sutton is walking now.
Sutton is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Sutton is headed
Sutton looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 30% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Sutton beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sutton in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds and sounds the way it is spelled — no correcting needed at a coffee counter or a doctor's office.
- A spelling already familiar from maps, surnames and roadside signs, so it reads as a real name rather than an invention.
- Documented in English continuously since before the Norman Conquest, first as a place, then a surname, now a given name.
- Works without adjustment for a girl or a boy, since it reaches both through the same surname.
- Common enough to be recognized, uncommon enough that a classroom is unlikely to hold two.
- It is climbing quickly, and quickly is the operative word: a name that feels distinctive at birth can be noticeably more familiar by the time a child reaches school. Worth knowing now rather than being surprised by later.
- Surname-names get read as surnames. Expect forms filled in the wrong order, and roll calls that reach for a first name that isn't there.
- The girls' side is currently the busier one, so a boy named Sutton may meet the occasional assumption in the other direction — easily corrected, but it will happen.
- Short forms are thin. Sutt and Sutty exist in family use, but nothing has settled the way Charlie or Katie has, so the full two syllables will do most of the work.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Sutton to the vote.
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What they receive
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Sutton
Feminine · Old English roots · #181 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Suttons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 12,500 people named Sutton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sutton in 2025?
- Sutton ranks #181 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,697 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sutton?
- About 1 in every 947 US girls born in 2025 was named Sutton — 1,697 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sutton with classmates?
- Sutton will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sutton
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Annie#182 · Amaya#180 · Lilah#179 · Ximena#183 · Adalynn#184 · Daphne#178 · Kaylani#185 · Katherine#186
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sutton? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sutton and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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