Layton
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 delightfully specific: town with a leek garden, in Old English, by Behind the Name's reading. Whatever the vegetable, the name has real seniority in the American record: boys named Layton appear in every decade back to the 1890s, from 13 that first decade, and from the 1920s through the 1980s the count never left the band between 196 and 381 a decade. Behind the Name notes it began rising in the 1990s alongside similar-sounding names like Peyton and Dayton, and the buckets agree: 862 boys in the 1990s, 2,317 in the 2000s, 4,027 in the 2010s, 2,536 so far this decade. The newer development is the girls' column: 68 in the 1990s, then 125, then 453, and already 525 this decade, past its full 2010s total with years remaining. It ranks 573rd in England and Wales and 710th in the United States for 2025.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Layton peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
57 people · the #60,880 first name in Brazil · median age 21
Among people named Layton living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2000s than in any other decade.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
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.
Does Layton fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Layton to your family’s tree →