Milton

Locally spelled Miltón in US United States, SV El Salvador, CO Colombia and 1 more.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

• English:/ˈmɪltən/●(recorded in a dictionary) from Wiktionary

Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Milton, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Norman
• Herbert
• Melvin
• Chester
• Herman

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Milton is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English surname27 spellings in the group

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

  Languages: English, German, Swedish

  Also written Mílton, Mïltön, Mìlton, Miltön, Miltòn

• a separate name3 spellings in the group

  Also written Mílton, Miltón

• Russian surname32 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Canada

  Languages: Russian, Polish, Ukrainian

  Also written Милтон, Мильтон, Мілтон, Мільтон, Милтън

• Hindi given name21 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Bangladesh, United States, Australia

  Languages: Hindi, Bangla, English

  Also written Miltan, মিলটন, মিল্টন, Míltôñ, Mîltöñ

• Finnish name3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland

  Also written Mîltõn

74 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.

Milton 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 English surname/toponym: mill + tun ‘mill’ + ‘enclosure, village’; ‘the mill village’.

  as a name·Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios

• In English, from one or other of the many places named Milton, sometimes from Middleton, and occasionally from Melton (Leics, Lincs, Norfolk, ER, WRYorks); first attested Boia on Mylatune 972 OEByn

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• habitational name from any of the numerous and widespread places so called. The majority of these are named with Old English middel ‘middle’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’; a smaller group, with examples in Cumbria, Kent, Northamptonshire, Northumbria, Nottinghamshire, and Staffordshire, have as their first element Old English mylen ‘mill’.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, ous places so called. The majority, with examples in at least fourteen counties, get the name from OE middel middle + tun enclosure, settlement (cf. Middleton); a smaller group, with examples in Cumb., Kent, Northants, Northumb., Notts., and Staffs., have as their first element OE mylen mill (cf. Millington). The surname is most common in Beds. Millen see Mullen

  as a name·The Oxford Names Companion - The definitive guide to Surnames, First Names, and Place Names of the British Isles

• In English, places so called. The majority, with examples in at least fourteen counties, get the name from OE middel middle + tun enclosure, settlement (cf. Middleton); a smaller group, with examples in Cumb., Kent, Northants, Northumb., Notts., and Staffs., have as their first element OE mylen mill (cf. Millington). The surname is most com¬ mon in Beds.

  as a name·A dictionary of surnames

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.

• John Miltonb. 1608GBEnglish poet and civil servant (1608–1674)
• Milton Oboteb. 1925UGPresident of Uganda (1966–1971; 1980–1985)
• Philip Rothb. 1933USnot in their usual nameAmerican novelist (1933–2018)

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).

96 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 51 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Milton mean, and where does it come from?

Person from Milton; the place-name means either ‘middle farmstead’ or ‘farmstead with a mill’. Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].

How do you pronounce Milton?

In English /ˈmɪltən/ (Wiktionary).

Which countries have the most people named Milton?

In Brazil, the national register counted about 105 thousand people named Milton, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled milton. After it come United States, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru; the country table on this page ranks them.

Where is Milton most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Milton is densest in Ecuador — about 1 in 402 people — even though Brazil holds more of our records for it.

How common is the name Milton?

In Brazil, the national register counted 105,286 people named Milton in 2022, about 1 in 2.0 thousand residents.