Dalton
Dalton was given to 699 boys in 2025, #448 among boys’ names; 86,142 Americans have been recorded with it since 1881 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 79,300 Americans named Dalton and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (92% of everyone recorded); the median is 26 years old and half are between 20 and 31.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dalton by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Dalton mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Dalton is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the senses “valley” (dæl) and “settlement” (tun).
From Old English dæl (“valley”) + tun (“settlement”). Equivalent to dale + town.
/ˈdɔltən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Dalton?
#448 among boys’ names, 2025
Dalton fell from #328 in 2015 to #448 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.55 to 0.41 per 1,000.
4,590 babies in 1998, the peak
Dalton peaked in 1998, when 4,590 babies were given it (4,565 boys, #88 among boys’ names). The 705 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 15% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 699 | #448 | 0.41 |
| 2024 | 732 | #433 | 0.42 |
| 2023 | 582 | #513 | 0.34 |
| 2022 | 574 | #516 | 0.33 |
| 2021 | 566 | #519 | 0.32 |
| 2020 | 638 | #464 | 0.37 |
| 2019 | 686 | #445 | 0.38 |
| 2018 | 799 | #397 | 0.44 |
| 2017 | 893 | #371 | 0.48 |
| 2016 | 1,050 | #328 | 0.55 |
Every recorded year (137)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,050 | #328 | 0.55 |
| 2014 | 1,118 | #312 | 0.58 |
| 2013 | 1,106 | #310 | 0.58 |
| 2012 | 1,232 | #285 | 0.65 |
| 2011 | 1,267 | #276 | 0.67 |
| 2010 | 1,332 | #260 | 0.69 |
| 2009 | 1,476 | #239 | 0.74 |
| 2008 | 1,736 | #218 | 0.85 |
| 2007 | 1,836 | #212 | 0.88 |
| 2006 | 1,939 | #200 | 0.94 |
| 2005 | 2,256 | #180 | 1.1 |
| 2004 | 2,454 | #167 | 1.2 |
| 2003 | 2,857 | #143 | 1.4 |
| 2002 | 3,284 | #117 | 1.7 |
| 2001 | 3,895 | #98 | 2.0 |
| 2000 | 4,445 | #91 | 2.3 |
| 1999 | 4,541 | #86 | 2.4 |
| 1998 | 4,565 | #88 | 2.4 |
| 1997 | 4,238 | #90 | 2.2 |
| 1996 | 3,980 | #99 | 2.1 |
| 1995 | 4,191 | #87 | 2.2 |
| 1994 | 4,245 | #85 | 2.2 |
| 1993 | 3,393 | #106 | 1.7 |
| 1992 | 2,900 | #121 | 1.5 |
| 1991 | 2,357 | #136 | 1.2 |
| 1990 | 1,571 | #193 | 0.76 |
| 1989 | 402 | #473 | 0.20 |
| 1988 | 215 | #645 | 0.11 |
| 1987 | 199 | #650 | 0.11 |
| 1986 | 159 | #718 | 0.09 |
| 1985 | 129 | #782 | 0.07 |
| 1984 | 107 | #849 | 0.06 |
| 1983 | 108 | #838 | 0.06 |
| 1982 | 93 | #928 | 0.05 |
| 1981 | 87 | #965 | 0.05 |
| 1980 | 74 | #1,049 | 0.04 |
| 1979 | 70 | #1,059 | 0.04 |
| 1978 | 52 | #1,243 | 0.03 |
| 1977 | 76 | #982 | 0.05 |
| 1976 | 56 | #1,144 | 0.04 |
| 1975 | 48 | #1,233 | 0.03 |
| 1974 | 62 | #1,046 | 0.04 |
| 1973 | 70 | #965 | 0.04 |
| 1972 | 73 | #945 | 0.05 |
| 1971 | 94 | #838 | 0.05 |
| 1970 | 90 | #849 | 0.05 |
| 1969 | 108 | #752 | 0.06 |
| 1968 | 80 | #825 | 0.05 |
| 1967 | 88 | #778 | 0.05 |
| 1966 | 64 | #903 | 0.04 |
| 1965 | 54 | #1,004 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 103 | #753 | 0.05 |
| 1963 | 83 | #831 | 0.04 |
| 1962 | 85 | #824 | 0.04 |
| 1961 | 75 | #882 | 0.04 |
| 1960 | 91 | #798 | 0.04 |
| 1959 | 95 | #788 | 0.04 |
| 1958 | 97 | #748 | 0.05 |
| 1957 | 98 | #758 | 0.05 |
| 1956 | 94 | #755 | 0.04 |
| 1955 | 102 | #722 | 0.05 |
| 1954 | 92 | #745 | 0.05 |
| 1953 | 97 | #726 | 0.05 |
| 1952 | 119 | #642 | 0.06 |
| 1951 | 122 | #640 | 0.06 |
| 1950 | 99 | #686 | 0.06 |
| 1949 | 118 | #627 | 0.07 |
| 1948 | 125 | #607 | 0.07 |
| 1947 | 128 | #600 | 0.07 |
| 1946 | 131 | #558 | 0.08 |
| 1945 | 104 | #597 | 0.08 |
| 1944 | 115 | #573 | 0.08 |
| 1943 | 137 | #536 | 0.10 |
| 1942 | 126 | #548 | 0.09 |
| 1941 | 140 | #493 | 0.11 |
| 1940 | 128 | #511 | 0.11 |
| 1939 | 123 | #512 | 0.11 |
| 1938 | 118 | #537 | 0.11 |
| 1937 | 140 | #480 | 0.13 |
| 1936 | 150 | #459 | 0.14 |
| 1935 | 157 | #453 | 0.15 |
| 1934 | 143 | #475 | 0.14 |
| 1933 | 143 | #467 | 0.14 |
| 1932 | 159 | #446 | 0.15 |
| 1931 | 145 | #471 | 0.14 |
| 1930 | 143 | #498 | 0.13 |
| 1929 | 131 | #514 | 0.12 |
| 1928 | 128 | #538 | 0.12 |
| 1927 | 161 | #480 | 0.14 |
| 1926 | 145 | #502 | 0.13 |
| 1925 | 177 | #453 | 0.16 |
| 1924 | 140 | #532 | 0.12 |
| 1923 | 138 | #519 | 0.13 |
| 1922 | 159 | #493 | 0.15 |
| 1921 | 147 | #511 | 0.13 |
| 1920 | 143 | #509 | 0.13 |
| 1919 | 123 | #539 | 0.13 |
| 1918 | 106 | #593 | 0.10 |
| 1917 | 113 | #554 | 0.12 |
| 1916 | 121 | #517 | 0.14 |
| 1915 | 93 | #593 | 0.11 |
| 1914 | 66 | #623 | 0.10 |
| 1913 | 61 | #552 | 0.12 |
| 1912 | 50 | #568 | 0.12 |
| 1911 | 23 | #653 | 0.10 |
| 1910 | 22 | #627 | 0.11 |
| 1909 | 15 | #725 | 0.09 |
| 1908 | 16 | #663 | 0.10 |
| 1907 | 13 | #746 | 0.09 |
| 1906 | 8 | #943 | 0.06 |
| 1905 | 11 | #751 | 0.08 |
| 1904 | 8 | #897 | 0.06 |
| 1903 | 9 | #802 | 0.08 |
| 1902 | 13 | #616 | 0.11 |
| 1900 | 16 | #631 | 0.11 |
| 1898 | 7 | #903 | 0.06 |
| 1897 | 7 | #864 | 0.06 |
| 1896 | 7 | #914 | 0.06 |
| 1895 | 11 | #649 | 0.09 |
| 1894 | 13 | #571 | 0.11 |
| 1893 | 8 | #782 | 0.07 |
| 1892 | 5 | #1,102 | 0.04 |
| 1890 | 5 | #1,036 | 0.05 |
| 1889 | 6 | #899 | 0.05 |
| 1885 | 8 | #717 | 0.07 |
| 1884 | 6 | #876 | 0.05 |
| 1881 | 5 | #896 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Dalton a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Dalton has been given almost only to boys: 432 girls in 137 years of records.
Girls and boys named Dalton: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dalton, and how old are they?
79,300 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 92% of the 86,142 Americans ever recorded as Dalton. The median Dalton alive today is 26 years old; half are between 20 and 31.
The 2020 Census counted 68,878 people named Dalton (385 women and girls, 68,493 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 76,883 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 449 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,260 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,020 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 23,400 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 42,700 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 10,500 |
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 Dalton born?
The states with the most babies named Dalton are Texas, Florida and North Carolina, with 20% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 47 | #641 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 46 | #424 | 1.1× |
| North Carolina | 39 | #311 | 1.5× |
| California | 34 | #756 | 0.3× |
| Ohio | 31 | #359 | 1.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 30 | #364 | 0.9× |
| Tennessee | 28 | #312 | 1.9× |
| New York | 28 | #563 | 0.3× |
| Georgia | 26 | #429 | 1.2× |
| Virginia | 25 | #333 | 0.8× |
Where Dalton is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Dalton is most over-represented in Kentucky: since 1910 it was given 2.3 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 Dalton 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 88,692 babies since 1880, Dalton is the most given (97% of them). In 2025 it was given to 705 of their 705 babies (100%), 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 Dalton
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 Dalton and names like it
- Compare Dalton and DaultonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sDalton peaked in 1998.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dalton since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Dalton: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1998The year the most babies were named Dalton.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Dalton alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with DMost given first.