Paiton
A feminine name of unknown origin, potentially meaning "peaceful valley".
Name Census estimates that about 1,344 living Americans carry the first name Paiton. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Paiton today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Paiton births was 2008 (119 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Paiton. 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 Paiton with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 255,026 Americans
Peak year
2008
119 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2016 SSA rank
#13,675
Tracked since 1992
Census
Paiton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,205 people with the first name Paiton, which placed it at #10,866 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
#10,866
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,205 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Paiton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Paiton is White at 68.7%. The next largest groups are Black (16.3%) and Two or More Races (7.1%). 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 Paiton 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 Paiton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.7% · 828
- Black or African American16.3% · 196
- Two or more races7.1% · 85
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 78
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Paiton
Paiton leans heavily female at 87.9% of total registrations, but 165 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Paiton as a male name
- Ranked #13,675 in 2016
- 5 male births in 2016
- Peak: 2010 (18 births)
Paiton as a female name
- Ranked #17,026 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (109 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Paiton leans strongly female. 1,038 people counted with this name were female (86.4%), compared with 164 male bearers (13.6%).
Popularity
Paiton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Paiton from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 718 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Paiton 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 Paiton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Paitons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, California recorded the most babies named Paiton, while Tennessee, Michigan, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Paiton
The given name Paiton is believed to have originated from the Old English language, with its roots traced back to the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, specifically the 5th to 11th centuries AD. The name is thought to be a variant of the Old English name Pæccian, which itself is derived from the word "pæcca," meaning "pouch" or "bag."
In the earliest recorded instances, Paiton was primarily used as a surname, often given to individuals whose occupation involved carrying or dealing with pouches or bags. However, over time, the name transitioned into being used as a given name, particularly in certain regions of England.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Paiton can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners and property compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The book lists several individuals with the surname Paiton, indicating the name's prevalence in certain areas of medieval England.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Paiton. One such figure was Sir John Paiton (c. 1350-1419), a prominent English knight who served under King Henry IV and participated in the Battle of Shrewsbury during the early 15th century.
Another notable Paiton was Thomas Paiton (c. 1490-1568), an English scholar and Catholic priest who served as the rector of Tredington in Worcestershire during the turbulent years of the English Reformation.
In the 17th century, a woman named Elizabeth Paiton (c. 1610-1679) gained recognition for her work as a midwife and herbalist in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare.
Moving forward to the 19th century, there was Samuel Paiton (1820-1901), a British engineer and inventor who contributed to the development of early steam engines and played a role in the Industrial Revolution.
Finally, in more recent times, there was the American artist and painter William Paiton (1901-1982), whose works were exhibited in various galleries and museums across the United States during the mid-20th century.
While the name Paiton may not be as common today as it once was, its rich history and origins in Old English language and culture make it a unique and intriguing choice for a given name, carrying with it echoes of a bygone era.
People
Paiton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Paiton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Paiton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Paiton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,344 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Paiton 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 255,026 US residents.
Is Paiton a common name?
We classify Paiton as "Rare". It ranks above 91.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,364 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Paiton most popular?
The single biggest year for Paiton was 2008, when 119 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Paiton is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Paiton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,205 people with the name Paiton, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,866 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 Paiton 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 Paiton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Paiton leans strongly female. 1,038 people counted with this name were female (86.4%), compared with 164 male bearers (13.6%). 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 Paiton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Paiton is White at 68.7%. The next largest groups are Black (16.3%) and Two or More Races (7.1%). 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 Paiton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Paiton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.7% (828 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 Paiton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Paiton a female name?
Yes, 87.9% of people registered as Paiton in the SSA data are female. 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 Paiton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Paiton 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 Paiton 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 Paiton?
You can see how many Americans are named Paiton on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.