Carlton
A masculine name of Old English origin meaning "from the settlement by the toun or farm."
Name Census estimates that about 30,654 living Americans carry the first name Carlton. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Carlton today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carlton births was 1957 (962 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carlton. 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 Carlton with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Carlton is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 277 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
31K
~ 1 in 11,181 Americans
Peak year
1957
962 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,829
Tracked since 1880
Census
Carlton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 27,705 people with the first name Carlton, which placed it at #1,316 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
#1,316
National first-name rank
People counted
28K
27,705 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
49.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carlton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carlton is Black at 49.3%. The next largest groups are White (43.5%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Carlton 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 Carlton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American49.3% · 13,660
- White43.5% · 12,062
- Two or more races3.2% · 887
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 476
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 344
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 276
Gender
Gender distribution for Carlton
Out of the 49,124 babies given the name Carlton since 1880, 99.4% 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.
Carlton as a male name
- Ranked #2,829 in 2024
- 45 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1957 (955 births)
Carlton as a female name
- Ranked #13,873 in 1996
- 5 female births in 1996
- Peak: 1969 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carlton appears almost entirely male. Of the 27,700 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Carlton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carlton from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 7,967 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carlton 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 Carlton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carltons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. New York, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Carlton, while Oregon, North Dakota, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 994 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Carlton
The name Carlton has its origins in the Old English language and is derived from the words "carr" meaning a rock or a rocky place, and "tun" meaning an enclosure or a village. It is believed to have first emerged as a place name for a village or settlement located on rocky terrain. The earliest recorded use of the name Carlton as a personal name dates back to the 12th century in England.
One of the earliest known historical references to the name Carlton can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landholdings and wealth in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book mentions several places with the name Carlton, indicating that it was already a well-established place name by that time.
In the 13th century, a notable figure named Carlton de Carlton was recorded as a knight and landowner in Lincolnshire, England. This early example suggests that the name had begun to be adopted as a surname by prominent families during this period.
Moving forward to the 16th century, Sir Dudley Carlton (1573-1638) was an English diplomat and politician who served as Ambassador to the Netherlands and played a significant role in the Thirty Years' War. His diplomatic efforts and contributions to international relations have been well documented in historical records.
In the realm of literature, the name Carlton appears in the works of the renowned English novelist Jane Austen. One of her minor characters in the novel "Persuasion" is named Mr. Carlton, a clergyman who serves as the curate of a parish.
Another notable historical figure bearing the name Carlton is Sir Guy Carlton (1724-1808), a British Army officer who served as the Governor of Quebec and played a crucial role in the American Revolutionary War. His military strategies and governance during this turbulent period have been extensively documented in historical accounts.
During the 19th century, Carlton House in London, the former residence of the Prince of Wales (later King George IV), became a prominent landmark and was known for hosting lavish social events and gatherings of the aristocracy. The name Carlton was closely associated with this prestigious address, adding to its cultural significance.
These are just a few examples of the historical and cultural significance of the name Carlton, which has its roots in the Old English language and has been carried by notable individuals throughout history.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Carlton
People
Carlton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carlton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Carlton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carlton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 30,654 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carlton 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 11,181 US residents.
Is Carlton a common name?
We classify Carlton as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 49,124 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carlton most popular?
The single biggest year for Carlton was 1957, when 962 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carlton is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carlton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 27,705 people with the name Carlton, or 9.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,316 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 Carlton 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 Carlton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carlton appears almost entirely male. Of the 27,700 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 Carlton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carlton is Black at 49.3%. The next largest groups are White (43.5%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Carlton most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Carlton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.3% (13,660 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 Carlton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carlton a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Carlton 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 Carlton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carlton 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 Carlton 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 Americans are named Carlton?
Want to know how many Americans are named Carlton? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.