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Thornton

#8,186 in 2025Boys' name

Thorn + settlement

Thornton has been given to 3,132 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #8,186 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1921, with 75 recorded.

Babies named Thornton, 2025

1 in 332,000

Thornton over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Thornton: meaning, origin, and history

Thorn + settlement

surname transfer

What Thornton means

Thornton means “thorn + settlement”, associated with þorn and tūn.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Old English þorn (“thorn”) + tūn (“settlement”).

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Thornton is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Thornton comes through Old English þorn.

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

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Thornton is pronounced /ˈθɔː(ɹ)ntən/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,132 boys were recorded with the name Thornton between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 75 in 1921; its best national rank was #440 in 1888.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #9,469 in 2020 to #8,186 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #8,668 in 2015 to #8,186 in 2025.

How common is Thornton?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 332,000
10 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 171,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#8,186
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
229,791 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Thornton 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 229,791 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Thornton. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Thorntons were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Thornton was born before 1937 — so the typical Thornton is around 88 today.

Median birth year
1937
About 88 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
17.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
6.4%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
1,097
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 17.6% of all recorded uses (551).

Is Thornton 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
+4,014
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+1,283
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+482
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.11×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
13.3%
Peak was 1921 (75)
Years since peak
104
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
27.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#440
1888

Spellings of Thornton

Thornton is not the most common spelling — Thurston is, with 48.3% against Thornton's 43.2%.

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 Thornton is used

Across 1910–2025, Thornton was most concentrated in Virginia — about 1 in 33,333 boys, against 1 in 301,949 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

03 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Virginia1 in 33,333
  2. 2Alabama1 in 100,000
  3. 3Kentucky1 in 100,000
  4. 4Maryland1 in 100,000
  5. 5Maine1 in 100,000
  6. 6California1 in —
  7. 7Georgia1 in —
  8. 8Illinois1 in —

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. Thornton has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Thornton around the world

Where Thornton 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
    2014–2014
    #4,632
    in 2014
  • South Australia
    1964–1988
    #476
    in 1988

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Thornton

People whose public names include Thornton, 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.

Thornton by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#8,186
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,283
Best rank ever
#440
1888
Peak year
1921
75 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,132
Count in 2025
10

Names similar to Thornton

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

ThompsonBrightonThurstonCharltonClifftonThorinStrattonHamiltonTreytonQuentonKlaytonColetonStocktonCashtonLangstonChristonCreightonBraytonLeightonBrixtonKyngstonDraytonHamptonThorton

Names with a curve like Thornton

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

LambertIvyEnnisOcieLonzoGarnettMurryRudolfGodfreyLlewellynWebsterObie

Sibling names for Thornton

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 Thornton

Top names of 1921, Thornton's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1888Boys' names starting with T