Melton
An English name derived from a place, possibly meaning "mill town".
Name Census estimates that about 1,856 living Americans carry the first name Melton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Melton today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Melton births was 1921 (80 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Melton. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Melton is about 65 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Meltons were born before 1971.
People living today
1.9K
~ 1 in 184,674 Americans
Peak year
1921
80 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
2015 SSA rank
#13,382
Tracked since 1882
Census
Melton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,788 people with the first name Melton, which placed it at #8,171 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
#8,171
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,788 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Melton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melton is White at 52.6%. The next largest groups are Black (30.9%) and Hispanic (8.6%). 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 Melton 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 Melton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.6% · 940
- Black or African American30.9% · 553
- Hispanic or Latino8.6% · 154
- Two or more races3.6% · 65
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.6% · 47
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 29
Popularity
Melton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Melton from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 710 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Melton 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 Melton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Meltons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Melton, while Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 130 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Melton
The given name Melton is of English origin and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old English words "mēl" meaning "meal" and "tūn" meaning "enclosure" or "settlement". Essentially, Melton referred to a settlement or town where meal or grain was processed.
In the medieval period, Melton was a common place name in England, with several villages and towns bearing the name. Over time, it transitioned from being a place name to a surname, and eventually, a given name. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Melton as a personal name dates back to the 13th century.
While the name Melton does not have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is associated with the historical development of English settlements and the importance of agriculture in medieval times.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Melton was Sir John Melton (c. 1275 – 1335), an English knight and military commander who served in the Scottish Wars of Independence under King Edward I and Edward II.
Another famous bearer of the name was William Melton (c. 1530 – 1618), an English composer and organist who served at the Chapel Royal during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I.
In the 18th century, Melton Mowbray, a town in Leicestershire, England, became renowned for its pork pies, which are now known as Melton Mowbray pork pies. The town's name is derived from the same Old English roots as the given name Melton.
In the 19th century, Melton Mowbray was also associated with the sport of fox hunting, and the Melton Mowbray Hunt became one of the most famous fox hunting societies in England.
Other notable individuals with the name Melton include:
1. John Melton (c. 1510 – 1563), an English Roman Catholic priest and martyr.
2. Melton Prior (1845 – 1922), an English cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club.
3. Melton Muskegon (1889 – 1934), an American jazz pianist and composer.
4. Melton Mustafa (1932 – 2011), an American actor and comedian known for his appearances on the TV show Barney Miller.
5. Melton Douglas (1950 – present), an American basketball player and coach who played in the NBA for the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics.
People
Melton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Melton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Melton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,856 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Melton 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 184,674 US residents.
Is Melton a common name?
We classify Melton as "Rare". It ranks above 93.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,235 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Melton most popular?
The single biggest year for Melton was 1921, when 80 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Melton is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Melton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,788 people with the name Melton, or 0.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,171 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 Melton 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 Melton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Melton leans strongly male. 1,765 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 19 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Melton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melton is White at 52.6%. The next largest groups are Black (30.9%) and Hispanic (8.6%). 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 Melton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Melton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.6% (940 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 Melton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Melton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Melton 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 Melton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Melton 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 Melton 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 Melton?
See how many Americans are named Melton on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.