Crayton
Of English origin, a habitational surname representing someone from a settlement.
Name Census estimates that about 486 living Americans carry the first name Crayton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Crayton today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Crayton births was 2007 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Crayton. 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.
People living today
486
~ 1 in 705,256 Americans
Peak year
2007
23 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,070
Tracked since 1914
Census
Crayton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 493 people with the first name Crayton, which placed it at #20,821 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
#20,821
National first-name rank
People counted
493
493 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Crayton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Crayton is White at 68.8%. The next largest groups are Black (18.1%) and Hispanic (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 Crayton 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 Crayton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.8% · 339
- Black or African American18.1% · 89
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.9% · 19
- Two or more races3.4% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 8
Popularity
Crayton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Crayton from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 112 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Crayton 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 Crayton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Crayton
The given name Crayton is an English surname that has been adopted as a first name in more recent times. The name is believed to have originated from a place name, possibly referring to a location or settlement derived from the Old English words "cræg" meaning rock or crag, and "tun" meaning enclosure or settlement.
In its earliest recorded usage, Crayton was primarily a surname found in various parts of England, particularly in regions like Yorkshire and Lancashire, where it may have been associated with families residing near rocky or craggy areas. The surname can be traced back to the 13th and 14th centuries in historical records and documents.
While there are no known direct references to the name Crayton in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its origins can be linked to the broader linguistic and cultural traditions of the Anglo-Saxon period in England. The name's evolution from a place name to a surname and eventually a given name reflects the common practice of adopting locational surnames during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the first name Crayton was Crayton Fern (1859-1933), an American botanist and educator known for his contributions to the study of ferns and their taxonomy. He was a professor at the University of Iowa and published several notable works on ferns.
Another notable figure was Crayton Malotte (1892-1964), an American composer and organist who is best remembered for his choral work "The Lord's Prayer," which gained widespread popularity and became a standard in many religious and secular settings.
In the realm of sports, Crayton Pruitt (1933-2017) was an American football player who played as a defensive back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers during the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Crayton Walker (1921-2008) was an American businessman and philanthropist who co-founded the Walker Information company and made significant contributions to educational institutions and various charitable organizations.
Finally, Crayton Nabers (1920-2015) was an American actor and singer who appeared in numerous television shows and films throughout his career, including roles in "The Waltons," "The Dukes of Hazzard," and "In the Heat of the Night."
People
Crayton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Crayton 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
Crayton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Crayton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 486 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Crayton 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 705,256 US residents.
Is Crayton a common name?
We classify Crayton as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 674 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Crayton most popular?
The single biggest year for Crayton was 2007, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Crayton is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Crayton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 493 people with the name Crayton, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,821 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 Crayton 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 Crayton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Crayton leans strongly male. 485 people counted with this name were male (97.0%), compared with 15 female bearers (3.0%). 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 Crayton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Crayton is White at 68.8%. The next largest groups are Black (18.1%) and Hispanic (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 Crayton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Crayton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.8% (339 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 Crayton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Crayton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Crayton 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 Crayton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Crayton 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 Crayton 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 are called Crayton?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.