Talon
Masculine · “claw”
Talon is given to both — 12,497 boys and 542 girls since 1880. See Talon as a girl nameSee other names given to both
A talon is a heel. French talon means the heel of a foot or a shoe, from Latin talus, the ankle bone, and English borrowed the word and moved it up the leg to a bird's claw. The bone it comes from is also the first dice anyone rolled.
How old is the name Talon?
Talon first appears in US birth records in 1975 — 50 years ago. The typical Talon alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 12,500 people named Talon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Talon most popular?
Talon peaked in 2006, reaching #426 nationally. Today it ranks #1176, 750 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Talon appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From talus to Talon
The story of Talon
The talus is a small blocky bone in the ankle, and because sheep and goats have four usably distinct faces on theirs, it was the standard gaming piece of the ancient world. Roman tali were thrown in fours and scored by which faces landed up; the game is depicted on Greek vases and the bones turn up in graves. The Latin word passed into French for the heel, into Italian as tallone, and into English for the grasping claw of a hawk or an eagle. As a given name it is modern and American, taken from the English word, and it belongs to a small set of names drawn from birds of prey and their equipment.
Meaning
claw; originally a heel
From Old French talon, a heel, from Latin talus, the anklebone. English narrowed the borrowed word to the claw of a bird of prey, which is a shift of about half a leg. French still uses talon for a heel and for the stub of a check.
How the name formed
- talus
- talon
- Talon
Related forms: Talon
Pronouncing Talon
TAL-un
Two syllables, stress on the first, exactly as the English word is said. French puts the weight at the end, ta-LON, with a nasal ending.
Nicknames for Talon
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
- 1975
- Most boys named
- 2006661 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #426reached in 2006
- Change vs 2024
- −17.5%175 in 2025, from 212
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.
Talon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Talon in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Pennsylvania.
Talons among us
people named Talon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 9,760 born in 2025 was named Talon
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 Alden test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Talon's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Alden climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Alden's path sketches the road Talon is walking now.
Talon 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 Talon is headed
Talon is easing off slowly — about 15% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Talon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Talon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Latin origin that can be checked in any dictionary.
- Two syllables and a spelling nobody has to be told.
- Tal works as a short form and is a name in its own right elsewhere.
- It is an ordinary English word for a claw, and the association is sharp and fixed.
- Talan, Tallon and Talyn are all in use, so the spelling will be given.
- The very few girls given this spelling will be read as boys on every form.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Talon
Masculine · #1176 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Talons 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 Talon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Talon in 2025?
- Talon ranks #1176 among US boy names in 2025, with 175 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Talon?
- About 1 in every 9,760 US boys born in 2025 was named Talon — 175 in all.
- Will my child share the name Talon with classmates?
- Talon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Talon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Arham#1176 · Khai#1176 · Wylie#1176 · Ash#1176 · Maxton#1176 · Deandre#1176 · Steele#1183 · Oren#1183
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Talon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Talon and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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