Hamilton

Where Hamilton comes from

From Old English *Hameldūne, from hamel (“blunt, flat-topped”) + dūne (“hill”). The Scottish surname is from the place in Leicestershire. The dollar-bill sense is from the portrait of Alexander Hamilton featured on it.
— Wiktionary's entry for Hamilton
  • 3 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1808
    Hamilton Fish born
    American politician
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #425 among boys — 17 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1883
    Peak, #346
    23 babies named Hamilton — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1885
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #700.
  5. 1931
    Hamilton Smith born
    American microbiologist
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Hamilton Smith · American microbiologist, 1931–2025
  • Hamilton Fish · American politician, 1808–1893
  • Hamilton Mourão · vice president of Brazil from 2019 to 2023 and Senator of the Republic for the state of Rio Grande do Sul since 2023., born 1953
  • Hamilton Luske · American film director, 1903–1968
  • Hamilton Camp · British actor, 1934–2005

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.