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Hamilton

#3,151 in 2025Boys' name

Blunt, flat-topped + hill

Hamilton has been given to 6,517 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #3,151 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2016, with 98 recorded.

Babies named Hamilton, 2025

1 in 87,200

Hamilton over time, 1880–2025

Boys
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Hamilton: meaning, origin, and history

Blunt, flat-topped + hill

surname transfer and English

What Hamilton means

Hamilton means “blunt, flat-topped + hill”, associated with hamel and dūne.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Old English *Hameldūne, from hamel (“blunt, flat-topped”) + dūne (“hill”). The Scottish surname is from the place in Leicestershire. The dollar-bill sense is from the portrait of Alexander Hamilton featured on it.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Hamilton (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Hamilton is used in English and Portuguese. Its origins include surname transfer and English.

Hamilton comes through Old English *Hameldūne.

Hamilton is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Hamilton is pronounced /ˈhæməltən/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 6,517 boys were recorded with the name Hamilton between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 98 in 2016; its best national rank was #347 in 1883.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,372 in 2020 to #3,151 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,771 in 2015 to #3,151 in 2025.

How common is Hamilton?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 87,200
38 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 44,900
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#3,151
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
60,472 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Hamilton sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 60,472 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Hamilton. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Hamiltons were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Hamilton was born before 1976 — so the typical Hamilton is around 49 today.

Median birth year
1976
About 49 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
12.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
26.8%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
4,172
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 12.2% of all recorded uses (793).

Is Hamilton rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−504
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−779
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,380
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.44×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
38.8%
Peak was 2016 (98)
Years since peak
9
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
20.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#347
1883

Spellings of Hamilton

Hamilton is not the most common spelling — Milton is, with 86.6% against Hamilton's 4.8%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Hamilton is used

Across 2016–2025, Hamilton was most concentrated in Georgia — about 1 in 16,667 boys, against 1 in 35,474 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in 100,000).

16 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Georgia1 in 16,667
  2. 2Alabama1 in 20,000
  3. 3California1 in 25,000
  4. 4Texas1 in 25,000
  5. 5Virginia1 in 25,000
  6. 6Florida1 in 33,333
  7. 7North Carolina1 in 50,000
  8. 8South Carolina1 in 50,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Hamilton around the world

Where Hamilton ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1998–2025
    #3,684
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1977–1977
    #284
    in 1977
  • France
    1982–2025
    #4,618
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1993–2023
    #3,103
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1945–2009
    #708
    in 2009

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Hamilton

People whose public names include Hamilton, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Hamilton by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#3,151
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 779
Best rank ever
#347
1883
Peak year
2016
98 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
6,517
Count in 2025
38

Names similar to Hamilton

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

HamptonLangstonLeightonCharltonThurstonThorntonBrightonBrittonStantonKashtonBrixtonPrincetonClifftonCreightonTristonSheltonStrattonQuentonTreytonHamzaKeltonKlaytonColetonCarleton

Names with a curve like Hamilton

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Hamilton, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

JohnsonAngusSampsonCaesarOrrinConstantineMarshalOrinEliePriceCollinsDenton

Sibling names for Hamilton

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Hamilton

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