Elton

Meaning & origin●

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Elton is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name268K records spelled Elton7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, United Kingdom, Australia

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Élton

• Albanian given name19K records spelled Elton3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Albania, United States, Italy, United Kingdom

  Also written Èlton, Élťóň

• French given name4.4K records spelled Elton3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, South Africa, Spain

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Ëlţöň

• a separate given name3.5K records spelled Elton3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy

  Also written Élton, Eltón

61 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Elton is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, from Elton (Berkshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Durham, Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire); first attested Thomas de Eleton 1230 P (Berks)

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• Transferred use of the surname, in origin a local name from any of numerous places in England so called (mostly from the Old English masculine personal name Ella + Old English tan ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’). In England it is largely associated with the singer-songwriter Elton John; born Reginald Dwight, he adopted the given name by which he is famous in honour of the saxophonist Elton Dean.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In English, A male given name from Old English.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, Old English; the old town

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• Emyr

  as a name·25,000 nombres de bebé. La mejor guía para escoger el nombre adecuado

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 145 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Elton Mayob. 1880AUAustralian psychologist and sociologist
• Douglas Fairbanksb. 1883USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor, screenwriter, director, and producer (1883–1939)
• John Le Mesurierb. 1912GBnot in their usual nameBritish actor (1912–1983)
• Elton Hayesb. 1915GBEnglish actor and musician (1915-2001)
• Ken Keseyb. 1935USnot in their usual nameAmerican novelist (1935–2001)
• Elton Deanb. 1945GBBritish saxophonist (1945–2006)
• Elton Johnb. 1947GBBritish singer, songwriter and musician (born 1947)
• Elton Brandb. 1979USAmerican basketball player (born 1979)
• Élton Rodrigues Brandãob. 1985BRBrazilian association football player
• Elton Acolatseb. 1995NLDutch footballer

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 567 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Elton?

We estimate roughly 86 thousand people bear Elton (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Elton have the most bearers?

We estimate about 65 thousand people bear Elton in Brazil, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled elton.

Where is Elton most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Elton is densest in Albania — about 1 in 826 people — even though Brazil holds more of our records for it.

How common is Elton compared with other names?

In Brazil, Elton is the 442nd most common given name of 536,280 given names recorded there.

Is Elton a male or female name?

Elton is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Elton mean?

Recorded meaning: ‘person from Elton’, various English places; mainly ‘Elli’s or Ella’s farmstead’