Denton
From an English surname meaning "valley town."
Name Census estimates that about 3,649 living Americans carry the first name Denton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Denton today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Denton births was 1994 (89 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Denton. 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 Denton with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.6K
~ 1 in 93,931 Americans
Peak year
1994
89 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,995
Tracked since 1881
Census
Denton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,587 people with the first name Denton, which placed it at #4,953 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
#4,953
National first-name rank
People counted
3.6K
3,587 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Denton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Denton is White at 80.4%. The next largest groups are Black (10.1%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Denton 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 Denton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.4% · 2,885
- Black or African American10.1% · 364
- Two or more races3.4% · 123
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 84
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 76
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 55
Popularity
Denton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Denton from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 670 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Denton 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 Denton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dentons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. Texas, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Denton, while North Carolina, Louisiana, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 49 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Denton
The given name Denton has its roots in the Old English language, tracing back to the 7th century CE. It is believed to have originated as a locational surname derived from the town of Denton in Lancashire, England. The name itself is composed of the Old English elements "denu," meaning "valley," and "tun," meaning "enclosure" or "settlement," suggesting it initially referred to someone from the settlement in the valley.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Denton can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings and resources in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The Domesday Book mentions a landowner named Denton, indicating the name's usage during the Norman period in England.
Throughout the centuries, the name Denton has been associated with several notable individuals. One of the earliest prominent figures bearing this name was Sir James Denton (c. 1525-1599), an English lawyer and politician who served as a Member of Parliament during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Another noteworthy individual was John Denton (1625-1708), an English historian and author who wrote extensively about the history and antiquities of Cumberland and Westmorland.
In the realm of religion, Denton features in the annals of the Church of England. The Reverend Thomas Denton (1805-1888) was an influential Anglican clergyman and author, known for his works on church history and theology. Additionally, Jeremiah Denton (1924-2014), a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral and former Vietnam War prisoner of war, gained recognition for his resilience and unwavering patriotism during his captivity.
The name Denton has also found its way into the world of literature. Thomas Denton (1805-1858) was an English novelist and playwright, best known for his semi-autobiographical novel "The Life and Opinions of a Fifth-Monarchy Man." Moreover, Bradbury Denton (1822-1892), an English author and journalist, contributed significantly to the literature of his time.
While the name Denton may have evolved over the centuries, its origins in the Old English language and its association with notable figures throughout history have helped to preserve its enduring legacy.
People
Denton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Denton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Denton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Denton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,649 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Denton 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 93,931 US residents.
Is Denton a common name?
We classify Denton as "Rare". It ranks above 95.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,111 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Denton most popular?
The single biggest year for Denton was 1994, when 89 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Denton is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Denton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,587 people with the name Denton, or 1.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,953 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 Denton 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 Denton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Denton appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,586 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Denton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Denton is White at 80.4%. The next largest groups are Black (10.1%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Denton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Denton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.4% (2,885 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 Denton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Denton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Denton 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 Denton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Denton 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 Denton 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 Denton?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.