Recorded 1893–2025 · United States
Leighton was most popular in 2022, when 1,144 American babies were given the name — ranking #592 that year. In 2025 it ranked #606, with 1,099 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 21,823 people named Leighton.
Leighton first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1893, which makes it about 132 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 123 of the 133 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 21,823 American births named Leighton between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 20,155 are estimated to be alive today.
1,099 American babies were named Leighton in 2025, ranking #606 that year.
Leighton is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 1,089 births a year, against 790 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +38% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Leighton is a unisex name — 56.9% of the 21,823 Americans given it were girls and 43.1% were boys. It changed hands: since 2008 it has gone mainly to girls, having gone mainly to boys before that. In births since 2016 it is 74% girls and 26% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 20,155 Americans named Leighton are alive today — 92% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 10 years old, and half are between 5 and 17. That is a narrow band because Leighton is a young name — it only became common recently, so almost everyone carrying it is still a child or a young adult.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Leighton on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org