Leyton
A masculine name of Old English origin meaning "settlement or estate by the leah or field".
Name Census estimates that about 2,857 living Americans carry the first name Leyton. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Leyton today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leyton births was 2010 (169 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leyton. 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 Leyton with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Leyton is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 119,970 Americans
Peak year
2010
169 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,217
Tracked since 1961
Census
Leyton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,362 people with the first name Leyton, which placed it at #6,703 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
#6,703
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,362 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leyton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leyton is White at 80.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.2%) and Hispanic (6.1%). 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 Leyton 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 Leyton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.9% · 1,912
- Two or more races6.2% · 147
- Hispanic or Latino6.1% · 145
- Black or African American3.4% · 81
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 56
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 21
Gender
Gender distribution for Leyton
Leyton leans heavily male at 86.2% of total registrations, but 398 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Leyton as a male name
- Ranked #2,217 in 2024
- 65 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2010 (144 births)
Leyton as a female name
- Ranked #5,518 in 2024
- 23 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (29 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leyton leans strongly male. 2,063 people counted with this name were male (87.2%), compared with 303 female bearers (12.8%).
Popularity
Leyton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leyton from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,342 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Leyton remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leyton 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 Leyton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leytons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. Texas, Minnesota, Florida recorded the most babies named Leyton, while Oregon, Oklahoma, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 39 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leyton
The name Leyton has its origins in the Old English language, derived from the combination of the words "leah" meaning a meadow or clearing, and "tun" meaning a town or settlement. This suggests that the name may have initially referred to a person living in a town situated within a meadow or clearing in the landscape.
During the medieval period, the name Leyton was commonly found in various regions of England, particularly in the counties of Essex and Lancashire. It is believed that the name first appeared in written records as early as the 11th century, although its precise origin remains uncertain.
One of the earliest known historical figures bearing the name Leyton was Sir John Leyton, a prominent English knight who lived during the 14th century. He served as a military commander under King Edward III and played a significant role in the Hundred Years' War against France.
Another notable individual was William Leyton, an English Catholic priest and martyr who lived in the 16th century. He was executed in 1586 for his refusal to conform to the Protestant religion, and his martyrdom was recognized by the Catholic Church.
In the 17th century, Leyton Knolles was a well-known English traveler and writer who documented his adventures in Turkey and Greece. His book, "The Generall Historie of the Turkes," published in 1603, provided valuable insights into the Ottoman Empire and its culture.
During the 18th century, Leyton Huddleston was a prominent English artist known for his portraiture and historical paintings. He was a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and his works can be found in various collections throughout England.
In more recent times, Leyton Orient Football Club, a professional soccer team based in East London, has helped to popularize the name Leyton. The club was founded in 1881 and has a long-standing history in English football.
While the name Leyton has deep roots in England's history, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries. However, its origins can be traced back to the Old English language and the early settlements of medieval England.
People
Leyton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leyton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Leyton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leyton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,857 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leyton 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 119,970 US residents.
Is Leyton a common name?
We classify Leyton as "Rare". It ranks above 95% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,885 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leyton most popular?
The single biggest year for Leyton was 2010, when 169 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leyton is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leyton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,362 people with the name Leyton, or 0.78 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,703 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 Leyton 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 Leyton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leyton leans strongly male. 2,063 people counted with this name were male (87.2%), compared with 303 female bearers (12.8%). 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 Leyton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leyton is White at 80.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.2%) and Hispanic (6.1%). 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 Leyton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Leyton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.9% (1,912 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 Leyton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leyton a male name?
Yes, 86.2% of people registered as Leyton 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 Leyton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leyton 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 Leyton 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 have Leyton as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Leyton, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.