Meaning & origin
What it means
Grafton goes back to Old English grāf, meaning “grove.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1886. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Grafton through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,080
- 1,080 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1916
- 25 babies
- 2025
- 9
- #8,480 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −26%
- Easing
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 9 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 8,480 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 26.2% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 25 in 1916. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 619 as a first name in 2020; 3,239 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Grafton’s family of names
The ring: spellings.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
People named Grafton
- Grafton Elliot SmithAustralian anatomist (1871–1937)
- Grafton D. CushingAmerican politician (1864–1939)
- Grafton Tyler BrownAmerican artist and cartographer (1841-1918)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Grafton, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Frampton
“enclosure; settlement, town”
>99% boys
Alwin
“noble” · “friend”
>99% boys
Crafton
“saffron”
>99% boys
Newton
“from the new town”
>99% boys
Hilton
“a wealthy woman” · “from the town on the hill”
85% boys · 15% girls
Claxton
“hill, peak”
>99% boys
Knowlton
“knoll, summit”
>99% boys
Worthington
“belonging to” · “enclosure; settlement, town”
>99% boys