Layton
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Meaning
“English place name/surname; Old English for 'town with a leek garden'”
The story
Layton is an English place name worn as a first name, and the meaning is gloriously specific: "town with a leek garden," in Old English, by Behind the Name's reading. The geography is real. Blackpool, of all seaside giants, grew up inside the old township of Layton with Warbreck, so the leek garden technically predates the pleasure beach. What modernized the name was a gentleman in a top hat: Professor Layton, the courteous puzzle-solving hero of a worldwide videogame franchise, who reached Spanish-speaking players as El profesor Layton. The stage supplied a bearer of its own when Layton Williams won an Olivier Award for Titanique. A name that has quietly covered the full English range: an Old English vegetable patch, the township that became a seaside resort, a puzzle professor with global reach, and a West End bow.
How popular is Layton around the world?
In the United States, 3,061 babies were named Layton between 2020 and 2025. In Scotland, 32 boys named Layton were registered in 2024, the 144th most common name among boys that year.
Layton is on the official records of the United States, Scotland, England and Wales, Ireland, South Australia, Canada, France and Brazil.
United States
1 in 7,100
In the United States, 3,061 babies were named Layton between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Layton peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Scotland
1 in 1,400
In Scotland, 32 boys named Layton were registered in 2024, the 144th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
England and Wales
1 in 8,600
In England and Wales, 68 boys named Layton were born in 2025, the 573rd most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Ireland
1 in 14,000
In Ireland, 4 boys named Layton were born in 2025, the 676th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
South Australia
1 in 18,0002017
In South Australia, 1 girl was registered as Layton in 2017.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Canada
1 in 23,000
In Canada, 11 boys named Layton were born in 2024, ranked 1,817th among boys that year.
In Canada, 5 girls named Layton were born in 2024, ranked 3,457th among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
France
1 in 130,000
In France, about 5 boys named Layton were born in 2025, ranked 3,885th among boys that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 57 people in Brazil were named Layton, ranked 60,880th, with a median age of 21.
Among people named Layton living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2000s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
New Zealand
last on record 2023
Layton is not on the 2025 record for New Zealand, where names under 10 in a year are excluded at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Layton
Most people given the name Layton in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Layton deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Layton truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Layton fits with your family’s names and surname.
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