Leighton

Where Leighton comes from

Various place names in England, Old English leac (“leek”) + tun (“settlement”), also in the sense of a herb garden.
— Wiktionary's entry for Leighton
  • From a surname
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1956
    First appearance
    #5,325 among girls, 6 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1984
    Leighton Baines born
    English association football player
  3. 1986
    Leighton Meester born
    American actress and singer
  4. 2008
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
  5. 2025
    Peak, #342
    892 babies named Leighton — more than any year before or since.
In the dictionary
  • A unisex given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Leighton Baines · English association football player, born 1984
  • Leighton Meester · American actress and singer, born 1986
  • Leighton Clarkson · English association football player, born 2001
  • Leighton James · Welsh footballer, 1953–2024
  • Leighton W. Smith, Jr. · United States Navy admiral, 1939–2023

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.