Sutton
A masculine name of Anglo-Saxon origin meaning "from the southern town".
Name Census estimates that about 17,132 living Americans carry the first name Sutton. It sits at #197 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 63.4% of registrations being female. The average person named Sutton today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sutton births was 2024 (2,271 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sutton. 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 Sutton with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Sutton sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Sutton is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 8 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
17K
~ 1 in 20,007 Americans
Peak year
2024
2,271 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#197
Tracked since 1912
Census
Sutton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,615 people with the first name Sutton, which placed it at #2,958 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
#2,958
National first-name rank
People counted
7.6K
7,615 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sutton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sutton is White at 89.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Sutton 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 Sutton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.1% · 6,782
- Two or more races4.9% · 372
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 288
- Black or African American1.3% · 98
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 45
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 30
Gender
Gender distribution for Sutton
Sutton is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 17,295 total registrations, 6,330 (36.6%) were male and 10,965 (63.4%) were female.
Sutton as a male name
- Ranked #441 in 2024
- 712 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (712 births)
Sutton as a female name
- Ranked #197 in 2024
- 1,559 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (1,559 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Sutton on both sides of the split. Of the 7,619 people counted with this name, 3,250 were male (42.7%) and 4,369 were female (57.3%).
Popularity
Sutton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sutton from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 9,595 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sutton 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 Sutton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Suttons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 46 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Sutton, while Alaska, Wyoming, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 324 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sutton
The given name Sutton has its origins in Old English, deriving from the words "sūth" meaning "south" and "tūn" meaning "farm" or "settlement". It was initially a place name referring to southern settlements or villages, and later adopted as a surname and eventually a given name.
The name can be traced back to the 11th century, with records showing it being used as a surname in various parts of England. One of the earliest known references is in the Domesday Book of 1086, which mentions places like "Sutton" and "Sutton Valence" in Kent.
In the Middle Ages, the name Sutton gained prominence as it was borne by several notable figures. One of the earliest was Sutton de Frene, a 13th-century English nobleman and landowner from Warwickshire. Another was John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley (c. 1400-1487), who played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses.
As a given name, Sutton first became popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. One of the earliest recorded instances was Sutton Dudley (1567-1597), an English military commander who served in the Netherlands. Another notable bearer was Sutton Nicholls (1585-1671), an English clergyman and academic who served as the Rector of Stretton Grandison in Herefordshire.
In the 18th century, Sutton Cane (1706-1772) was an English artist and engraver known for his works depicting landscapes and buildings. Later, in the 19th century, Sutton Sharpe (1803-1880) was an English architect and surveyor who designed several churches and public buildings in London.
One of the most famous bearers of the name was Sutton Foster (born 1975), an American actress, singer, and dancer who has won two Tony Awards for her performances in the Broadway musicals "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "Anything Goes".
While the name Sutton has its roots in Old English and was initially associated with places in southern England, it has since spread and been adopted as a given name across various cultures and countries. Its enduring popularity can be attributed to its unique sound and historical significance.
People
Sutton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sutton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sutton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sutton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17,132 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sutton 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 20,007 US residents.
Is Sutton a common name?
We classify Sutton 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, 17,295 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sutton most popular?
The single biggest year for Sutton was 2024, when 2,271 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sutton is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sutton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,615 people with the name Sutton, or 2.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,958 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 Sutton 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 Sutton?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Sutton on both sides of the split. Of the 7,619 people counted with this name, 3,250 were male (42.7%) and 4,369 were female (57.3%). 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 Sutton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sutton is White at 89.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Sutton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sutton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.1% (6,782 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 Sutton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sutton a female name?
Yes, 63.4% of people registered as Sutton 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 Sutton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sutton 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 Sutton 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 Americans are named Sutton?
See how many Americans are named Sutton on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.