Thornton

Where Thornton comes from

From Old English þorn (“thorn”) + tūn (“settlement”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Thornton
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #526 among boys — 12 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1888
    Peak, #430
    19 babies named Thornton — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1890
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #884.
  4. 1897
    Thornton Wilder born
    American playwright and novelist
  5. 1898
    Thornton Freeland born
    film director
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Thornton Wilder · American playwright and novelist, 1897–1975
  • Thornton Freeland · film director, 1898–1987
  • Thornton Burgess · American writer and conservationist, 1874–1965
  • Thornton Chase · American poet, 1847–1912
  • Thornton Wilson · American businessman, 1921–1999

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.