Kolton
A masculine name derived from the Old English terms meaning "to dwell, coal or black town."
Name Census estimates that about 16,491 living Americans carry the first name Kolton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kolton today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kolton births was 2012 (796 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kolton. 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 Kolton with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kolton is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
16K
~ 1 in 20,784 Americans
Peak year
2012
796 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#529
Tracked since 1982
Census
Kolton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,114 people with the first name Kolton, which placed it at #2,183 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
#2,183
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
12,114 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kolton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kolton is White at 86.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Kolton 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 Kolton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.6% · 10,489
- Two or more races4.9% · 592
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 501
- Black or African American2.3% · 279
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 155
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 98
Popularity
Kolton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kolton from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 7,217 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kolton remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kolton 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 Kolton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Koltons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, Florida recorded the most babies named Kolton, while Wyoming, Connecticut, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 324 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kolton
The name Kolton is a relatively modern English name, emerging in the late 20th century. It is likely a variant spelling of the name Colton, which is derived from an Old English surname meaning "coal town" or "people living near the coal pits."
The earliest recorded use of the spelling Kolton can be traced back to the late 1970s in the United States. It is believed to have been influenced by the popularity of names ending in the "-on" sound, as well as the trend of adding unique letter combinations to traditional names.
While the name Kolton does not have a deep historical or cultural significance, there have been a few notable individuals who have carried this name throughout the years. One of the earliest recorded individuals was Kolton Arndt, an American basketball player born in 1982, who played for various college teams in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Another noteworthy individual is Kolton Houston, an American actor born in 1986, known for his roles in films such as "Zombieland" (2009) and "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" (2013). In the world of music, Kolton Mardis, an American country music singer-songwriter born in 1995, has gained recognition for his work in the late 2010s.
Additionally, Kolton Browning, an American football player born in 1990, played quarterback for various college teams in the early 2010s. Kolton Mahoney, an American professional baseball pitcher born in 1994, has been active in Major League Baseball since 2018.
While the name Kolton may be relatively new and lacking in deep historical roots, it has gained popularity in recent decades, with parents likely drawn to its unique spelling and modern sound. As time passes, more individuals may emerge to leave their mark on the history of this name.
People
Kolton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kolton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kolton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kolton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 16,491 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kolton 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 20,784 US residents.
Is Kolton a common name?
We classify Kolton as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,674 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kolton most popular?
The single biggest year for Kolton was 2012, when 796 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kolton is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kolton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,114 people with the name Kolton, or 4.01 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,183 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 Kolton 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 Kolton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kolton appears almost entirely male. Of the 12,116 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Kolton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kolton is White at 86.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Kolton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kolton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.6% (10,489 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 Kolton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kolton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kolton 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 Kolton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kolton 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 Kolton 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 Kolton?
See how many Americans are named Kolton on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.