Burton
An English masculine name derived from the Old English place name meaning "fortified town".
Name Census estimates that about 7,949 living Americans carry the first name Burton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Burton today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Burton births was 1925 (597 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Burton. 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 Burton with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
7.9K
~ 1 in 43,119 Americans
Peak year
1925
597 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,076
Tracked since 1880
Census
Burton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,662 people with the first name Burton, which placed it at #2,705 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
#2,705
National first-name rank
People counted
8.7K
8,662 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Burton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Burton is White at 87.6%. The next largest groups are Black (5.0%) and Two or More Races (2.3%). 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 Burton 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 Burton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.6% · 7,590
- Black or African American5.0% · 435
- Two or more races2.3% · 201
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 172
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 135
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 129
Gender
Gender distribution for Burton
Out of the 22,512 babies given the name Burton since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Burton as a male name
- Ranked #5,076 in 2024
- 19 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1925 (597 births)
Burton as a female name
- Ranked #6,664 in 1961
- 5 female births in 1961
- Peak: 1932 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Burton appears almost entirely male. Of the 8,663 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Burton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Burton from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 5,251 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Burton 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 Burton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Burtons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Burton, while District of Columbia, Arizona, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 354 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Burton
The name Burton is derived from the Old English words "burh" meaning a fortified town or manor, and "tun" meaning an enclosure or settlement. It emerged as a surname during the Middle Ages, referring to someone who lived in or near a fortified town or village. The name is believed to have first appeared in England around the 11th century.
Burton has its roots in the Anglo-Saxon culture and was initially a locational surname, identifying where a person was from. As early as the 13th century, records show the name being used as a given name, particularly in regions of England such as Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Burton is found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landholdings and wealth compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The name appears as a place name and a surname, indicating its widespread use at the time.
In the realm of literature, the name Burton is mentioned in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, the famous 14th-century English poet and author. In his Canterbury Tales, Chaucer includes a character named "Burton" among the pilgrims, suggesting the name's familiarity during that era.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Burton. Sir Richard Burton (1821-1890) was a renowned British explorer, writer, and linguist, best known for his travels in Africa and Asia, including his expedition to discover the source of the Nile River. Another prominent figure was Sir Randolph Burton (1829-1901), a British diplomat and politician who served as the British Consul-General in Damascus and later as a Member of Parliament.
In the field of acting, the name Burton is closely associated with the legendary actor Richard Burton (1925-1984), renowned for his roles in films such as "Cleopatra" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". His talent and charismatic performances made him one of the most celebrated actors of his time.
Additionally, Burton C. Mossman (1888-1965) was a Canadian politician and lawyer who served as the 14th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta from 1950 to 1955, while Burton Richter (1931-2018) was an American physicist and Nobel laureate, recognized for his contributions to the discovery of the subatomic particle known as the J/psi meson.
The name Burton has a rich history, originating from the Old English language and evolving into a given name with a strong connection to the Anglo-Saxon heritage of England. Its presence in literary works, historical records, and the lives of influential individuals throughout the centuries has solidified its place in the annals of naming traditions.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Burton
People
Burton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Burton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Burton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Burton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,949 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Burton 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 43,119 US residents.
Is Burton a common name?
We classify Burton as "Rare". It ranks above 97.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 22,512 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Burton most popular?
The single biggest year for Burton was 1925, when 597 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Burton is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Burton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,662 people with the name Burton, or 2.87 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,705 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 Burton 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 Burton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Burton appears almost entirely male. Of the 8,663 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Burton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Burton is White at 87.6%. The next largest groups are Black (5.0%) and Two or More Races (2.3%). 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 Burton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Burton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.6% (7,590 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 Burton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Burton a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Burton in the SSA data are male. 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 Burton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Burton 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 Burton 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 common is the name Burton?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.