Compton

Compton is the 1,000th most common surname in the United States, shared by 34,287 people at the 2020 census. That is about one person in 8,718.

By the numbers

People: 34,287
Rank: 1,000th
How common: 1 in 8,718
Per 100,000: 11.5

Where the name comes from

Origin Old English

From Old English Cumbtūn. Equivalent.

Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Who bears the name

How people with the surname Compton described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:

White, not Hispanic 83.8%
Black, not Hispanic 7.4%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 4.2%
Hispanic or Latino 3.2%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.7%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.7%

Notable people called Compton

Arthur Holly Compton (1892–1962)American physicist
Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington (1674–1743)Prime Minister of Great Britain
John Compton (1925–2007)1st and former Prime Minister of Saint Lucia
Ivy Compton-Burnett (1884–1969)English writer
Karl Taylor Compton (1887–1954)American physicist and university president
Joyce Compton (1907–1997)American film actress
Denis Compton (1918–1997)Cricket player of England.
Leslie Compton (1912–1984)English footballer

People named Compton with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).

Surnames like Compton

Try it on yourself

Source: US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Surnames, 2020. The Census describes the file as the surnames borne by 100 or more people; rarer names are not published. The line is not quite exact, and 617 published names come in under it, the smallest at 92 people. Race and Hispanic origin are self-reported. Rates are worked out against the 298.9 million people the file's own figures are calculated on, which is fewer than the census counted in all: the difference is everyone whose surname was too rare to publish.