Afton
Taken from Afton Water, a river in southwestern Scotland that Robert Burns addressed in a song. English place names with the same spelling also exist.
Afton in 2025
Afton was given to 52 babies in the United States in 2025 — 9 boys and 43 girls, making it the 5,474th most popular name of the year. That is roughly one in every 63,757 babies born.
The history of Afton
Afton reached its highest point in 1982, when 186 babies were given the name, ranking 1,442nd that year. Its best-ever ranking was 1,276th, in 1917.
Across the 131 years of records since 1895, 6,077 babies have been named Afton. Half of them were born before 1989, which places the name's centre of gravity with Millennials.
Afton by decade
| Decade | Babies named Afton | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | 18 | 2,004 |
| 1900s | 91 | 1,540 |
| 1910s | 581 | 1,276 |
| 1920s | 634 | 1,450 |
| 1930s | 269 | 2,131 |
| 1940s | 128 | 2,850 |
| 1950s | 35 | 4,886 |
| 1960s | 34 | 8,040 |
| 1970s | 63 | 5,520 |
| 1980s | 1,236 | 1,417 |
| 1990s | 628 | 2,552 |
| 2000s | 871 | 2,995 |
| 2010s | 1,083 | 2,912 |
| 2020s | 406 | 3,457 |
Where Afton is heading
Afton has fallen 50% over the past decade, from 103 babies in 2015 to 52 in 2025.
Names like Afton
Names that rose and fell at the same time as Afton.