Colton
Colton was given to 3,420 boys in 2025, #103 among boys’ names; 152,174 Americans have been recorded with it since 1913 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 150,000 Americans named Colton and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 15 years old and half are between 9 and 25.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Colton by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Colton mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Colton is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the senses “coal” (cola) and “settlement” (tun).
From Old English cola (“coal”) + tun (“settlement”).
/koʊl.tən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Colton?
#103 among boys’ names, 2025
Colton fell from #60 in 2015 to #103 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 3.3 to 2.0 per 1,000.
6,496 babies in 2013, the peak
Colton peaked in 2013, when 6,496 babies were given it (6,490 boys, #65 among boys’ names). The 3,426 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 53% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 3,420 | #103 | 2.0 |
| 2024 | 3,600 | #98 | 2.1 |
| 2023 | 3,707 | #94 | 2.2 |
| 2022 | 3,926 | #91 | 2.2 |
| 2021 | 4,566 | #75 | 2.6 |
| 2020 | 5,025 | #66 | 2.9 |
| 2019 | 5,739 | #59 | 3.2 |
| 2018 | 5,314 | #68 | 2.9 |
| 2017 | 5,294 | #70 | 2.9 |
| 2016 | 5,624 | #68 | 3.0 |
Every recorded year (89)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 6,318 | #60 | 3.3 |
| 2014 | 6,405 | #65 | 3.3 |
| 2013 | 6,490 | #65 | 3.4 |
| 2012 | 6,362 | #65 | 3.4 |
| 2011 | 5,601 | #74 | 2.9 |
| 2010 | 5,321 | #73 | 2.8 |
| 2009 | 4,771 | #93 | 2.4 |
| 2008 | 4,550 | #98 | 2.2 |
| 2007 | 3,657 | #118 | 1.8 |
| 2006 | 3,003 | #135 | 1.5 |
| 2005 | 2,657 | #155 | 1.3 |
| 2004 | 2,955 | #135 | 1.5 |
| 2003 | 2,953 | #135 | 1.5 |
| 2002 | 3,047 | #128 | 1.6 |
| 2001 | 3,246 | #118 | 1.7 |
| 2000 | 3,410 | #111 | 1.7 |
| 1999 | 3,288 | #109 | 1.7 |
| 1998 | 3,573 | #106 | 1.9 |
| 1997 | 3,600 | #108 | 1.9 |
| 1996 | 3,788 | #105 | 2.0 |
| 1995 | 3,588 | #105 | 1.9 |
| 1994 | 2,857 | #121 | 1.5 |
| 1993 | 2,750 | #126 | 1.4 |
| 1992 | 2,548 | #133 | 1.3 |
| 1991 | 2,245 | #145 | 1.1 |
| 1990 | 2,235 | #139 | 1.1 |
| 1989 | 1,925 | #157 | 1.0 |
| 1988 | 879 | #268 | 0.46 |
| 1987 | 324 | #494 | 0.17 |
| 1986 | 236 | #577 | 0.13 |
| 1985 | 173 | #674 | 0.09 |
| 1984 | 131 | #756 | 0.07 |
| 1983 | 118 | #805 | 0.07 |
| 1982 | 122 | #802 | 0.07 |
| 1981 | 49 | #1,339 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 34 | #1,701 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 33 | #1,718 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 26 | #1,928 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 30 | #1,749 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 31 | #1,680 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 34 | #1,533 | 0.02 |
| 1974 | 27 | #1,758 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 25 | #1,787 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 23 | #1,878 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 17 | #2,298 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 18 | #2,134 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 16 | #2,151 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 16 | #2,045 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 12 | #2,376 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 18 | #1,827 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 14 | #2,197 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 11 | #2,566 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 9 | #2,895 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 11 | #2,538 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 16 | #2,077 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 7 | #3,396 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 9 | #2,859 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 6 | #3,613 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 9 | #2,863 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 8 | #3,012 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 6 | #3,514 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 5 | #3,909 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 6 | #3,413 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 11 | #2,337 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 6 | #3,431 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 6 | #3,172 | under 0.01 |
| 1943 | 5 | #3,636 | under 0.01 |
| 1940 | 7 | #2,923 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 9 | #2,487 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 5 | #3,622 | under 0.01 |
| 1932 | 5 | #3,874 | under 0.01 |
| 1931 | 5 | #3,872 | under 0.01 |
| 1927 | 5 | #4,313 | under 0.01 |
| 1926 | 5 | #4,322 | under 0.01 |
| 1925 | 5 | #4,324 | under 0.01 |
| 1921 | 5 | #4,465 | under 0.01 |
| 1920 | 8 | #3,267 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 5 | #4,027 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 6 | #2,550 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Colton a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Colton has been given almost only to boys: 209 girls in 89 years of records.
Girls and boys named Colton: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Colton, and how old are they?
150,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 152,174 Americans ever recorded as Colton. The median Colton alive today is 15 years old; half are between 9 and 25.
The 2020 Census counted 117,141 people named Colton (187 women and girls, 116,954 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 127,420 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 10 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 85 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 333 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 23,100 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 61,100 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 65,000 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Colton born?
The states with the most babies named Colton are California, Texas and Florida, with 17% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 211 | #185 | 0.5× |
| Texas | 205 | #180 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 178 | #121 | 0.9× |
| North Carolina | 170 | #68 | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 163 | #72 | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 161 | #49 | 1.1× |
| New York | 147 | #125 | 0.4× |
| Ohio | 142 | #81 | 1.3× |
| Tennessee | 139 | #53 | 1.4× |
| Virginia | 129 | #65 | 1.0× |
Where Colton is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Colton is most over-represented in West Virginia: since 1913 it was given 1.8 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Colton with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 199,924 babies since 1880, Colton is the most given (76% of them). In 2025 it was given to 3,426 of their 4,382 babies (78%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Colton
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Colton and names like it
- Compare Colton and KoltonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sColton peaked in 2013.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Colton since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Colton: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2013The year the most babies were named Colton.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Colton alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with CMost given first.