Afton
From the Old English word for river, "afton" signifies a creek or stream.
Name Census estimates that about 4,288 living Americans carry the first name Afton. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Afton today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Afton births was 1982 (186 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Afton. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Afton with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.3K
~ 1 in 79,933 Americans
Peak year
1982
186 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,687
Tracked since 1895
Census
Afton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,064 people with the first name Afton, which placed it at #4,540 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#4,540
National first-name rank
People counted
4.1K
4,064 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Afton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Afton is White at 85.7%. The next largest groups are Black (4.7%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Afton described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Afton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.7% · 3,481
- Black or African American4.7% · 189
- Two or more races4.3% · 175
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 149
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 41
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 29
Gender
Gender distribution for Afton
Afton leans heavily female at 86.0% of total registrations, but 845 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Afton as a male name
- Ranked #6,179 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (23 births)
Afton as a female name
- Ranked #3,687 in 2024
- 41 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1983 (186 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Afton leans strongly female. 3,575 people counted with this name were female (87.9%), compared with 490 male bearers (12.1%).
Popularity
Afton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Afton from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 1,236 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Afton by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Afton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aftons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. Utah, Texas, Idaho recorded the most babies named Afton, while Oregon, North Dakota, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 89 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Afton
The name Afton is of English origin, derived from the Old English words "æfter" and "tun," which together mean "the settlement by the river." It is believed to have originated in the medieval period, around the 12th or 13th century, when many English place names were formed by combining descriptive words.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Afton can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book mentions several places with names containing the word "Afton," suggesting that the name was already in use as a place name by that time.
While the name Afton was initially used as a place name, it gradually transitioned into a given name, particularly for boys. One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name Afton was Afton of Wymondham, a 13th-century English monk and chronicler who lived from around 1220 to 1300.
Another notable figure named Afton was Sir Afton Everard, an English knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War during the 14th century. He was born around 1320 and died in 1392.
In the 16th century, the name Afton gained prominence with Afton Donne, an English poet and Anglican priest who lived from 1572 to 1631. He is best known for his metaphysical poetry and is considered one of the greatest poets of the English Renaissance.
Moving into the 18th century, we find Afton Burney, an English writer and diarist who was born in 1752 and died in 1840. She is remembered for her novels, such as "Evelina" and "Cecilia," which provided insightful commentary on the social and cultural norms of her time.
In the 19th century, Afton Dickens, the son of the famous English novelist Charles Dickens, was born in 1837 and died in 1896. Although not as renowned as his father, Afton Dickens was a writer and editor who contributed to various literary publications.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Afton. While the name has undergone various transformations and interpretations over the centuries, it remains rooted in its English origins, reflecting the rich tapestry of language and culture.
People
Afton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Afton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Afton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Afton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,288 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Afton going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 79,933 US residents.
Is Afton a common name?
We classify Afton as "Rare". It ranks above 96.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,024 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Afton most popular?
The single biggest year for Afton was 1982, when 186 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Afton is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Afton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,064 people with the name Afton, or 1.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,540 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Afton in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Afton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Afton leans strongly female. 3,575 people counted with this name were female (87.9%), compared with 490 male bearers (12.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Afton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Afton is White at 85.7%. The next largest groups are Black (4.7%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Afton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Afton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.7% (3,481 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Afton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Afton a female name?
Yes, 86.0% of people registered as Afton in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Afton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Afton in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Afton can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Afton?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.