Leighton

Leighton: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“settlement by a meadow”
Origin
Old English
Say it
LAY-tuhn · 2 syllables
Used for
Both (56% girls, 44% boys since 1880)

From an English surname and place name derived from Old English leac or lea elements plus tun. The exact first element varies by place, but 'meadow settlement' is a common interpretation.

How popular is Leighton?

2024303 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Leighton in 20241,010

2024 rank#395 girls

Peak year2022

Total US babies since 188020,720

Leighton is rising: use over the last five years is 1.6× what it was a decade earlier.

Names like Leighton

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Oakleyoak clearing · Old English
  • PeytonPæga's town · Old English
  • Suttonsouth settlement · Old English
  • Harleyhare meadow · Old English
  • Kingsleyking's meadow · Old English
  • Berkleybirch wood clearing · Old English
  • Ripleystrip of clearing in the woods · Old English
  • Marlowdriftwood hill · Old English

Leighton questions

What does the name Leighton mean?

Leighton means "settlement by a meadow". It comes from Old English. From an English surname and place name derived from Old English leac or lea elements plus tun. The exact first element varies by place, but 'meadow settlement' is a common interpretation.

Is Leighton a boy or girl name?

Leighton is used for both: about 56% of US babies named Leighton since 1880 were girls.

How popular is Leighton?

1,010 US babies were named Leighton in 2024. Its peak year was 2022.

How do you pronounce Leighton?

Leighton is usually pronounced LAY-tuhn.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.