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Payton

English
"fighting man's estate"
Pamela Redmond
By Pamela Redmond
Updated Mon Jul 22 2024

Payton Origin and Meaning

The name Payton is a girl's name of English origin meaning "fighting man's estate".

Rarely used until the 90s, Payton rose up the charts when it was popularized by the football star, Peyton Manning, and, interestingly, by the character of "Peyton Flanders", the villainess of the 1992 film, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle.

Derived from an English place name and surname, Payton could mean "Pæga's town" or "fighting man's estate", though other sources associate it with Patton and Patrick, giving it the meaning "nobleman's town". With both surnames-as-given-names and place names in style, Payton remains in the US Top 400.

Back in the early 2000s, Payton leaned more towards being (statistically) unisex, and it was given to roughly 2200 girls and 1400 boys. In more recent years however, the number of boys called Payton has dwindled, and now, it is given to girls 90% of the time.

As of 2023, the spelling variation Peyton was nearly twice as popular as Payton for girls, and ranked significantly higher in the UK and Canada too, perhaps because of its links to Peyton Place which could make it feel more intuitive.

Payton Stork (nee Ackerman) of Dance Moms fame is a notable bearer of this spelling.

# 310 in the US

Payton Rank in US Top 1000

# 1506 on Nameberry

Payton Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Payton Popularity

Famous People Named Payton

  • Payton AckermanAmerican dancer and reality TV personality
  • Payton LeighAmerican adult film actress
  • Payton Spraguedaughter of baseball player Ed Sprague, Jr.
  • Payton Tynerdaughter of baseball player Jason Tyner
  • Payton Marie Kunitz (b. 2011)daughter of ice hockey player Chris Kunitz
  • Payton June Barinholtz (b. 2016)daughter of actor Ike Barinholtz

Payton in Pop Culture

  • Payton Perottacharacter from TV series "Bones"