How rare is the name Milton?

51,890 people in the United States have the first name Milton, about 1 in 5,821. It ranks #870 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

MILTON

#870

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
51,890
About
1 in 5,821
This common or more
68%
Who bears it

Of the 51,890 people named Milton, 41% reported their origin as White, 27.9% as Black and 26.4% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are male (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Milton peaked in 1920, when 2,603 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1920
Births that year
2,603
In 2025*
125 ▼95%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 118,551 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Milton by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1910s, when it ranked #174. The largest share of babies named Milton, 33.9%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#2461,479
1890s#3051,745
1900s#2742,700
1910s#17417,625
1920s#19624,357
1930s#26315,832
1940s#32114,937
1950s#40114,677
1960s#5569,066
1970s#8004,714
1980s#9813,750
1990s#1,3552,833
2000s#1,8102,390
2010s#2,5221,632
2020s#2,877814
Before 19012.9%
Greatest Generation 1901–2733.9%
Silent Generation 1928–4524.2%
Baby boom 1946–6422.2%
Generation X 1965–807.4%
Millennials 1981–964.6%
Generation Z 1997–123%
2013 and later1.6%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Milton is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Milton has been most common in Mississippi (2.5×), Louisiana (2.5×), and District of Columbia (2.2×), and least common in Nevada (0.1×).

108,118 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Milton

#868 Mallory · 52,306#869 Stuart · 52,140#871 Saul · 51,866#872 Maribel · 51,831

Also a last name

As a last name, Milton ranks #1,735 of 156,621, with 20,138 people. See Milton as a last name

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