How to say it
PEY · ton
/ˈpeɪ.tən/
Unisex
Peyton
Pæga's town
What it means
Old English place name, 'Pæga's settlement' (Pæga being a personal name). Originally a surname; Peyton Place (the 1956 Grace Metalious novel) and Peyton Manning the NFL quarterback are the dominant English-language anchors.
Peyton is an English place name from Old English, 'Pæga's town' (Pæga being a Saxon personal name). The surname has been common in England since the medieval period. Grace Metalious's Peyton Place (1956), a scandalous novel about small-town secrets that became a cultural touchstone (and a TV series, 1964-1969), gave the name decisive English-language anchor for women of a certain age. Peyton Manning (the NFL quarterback, two-time Super Bowl winner) is the modern masculine anchor; his name is reportedly a family-tradition Peyton, not the novel. The first-name use went unisex in the 1990s and split: predominantly feminine in early years, now used for both. It's been in the US top 100 since 2002.
Popularity over time
Feminine: peaked at #42 in 2009, currently #199 in 2025.
Masculine: peaked at #125 in 2007, currently #684 in 2025.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, names given to at least 5 babies in a year, 1880–present. See where the names are moving
Heads-up notes
- Pop culture
Peyton Place (Metalious's 1956 novel) and Peyton Manning the NFL quarterback are the two strongest English-language anchors.
Who's worn it
Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.
- Peyton Manning NFL quarterback, two-time Super Bowl champion
- Peyton Place Grace Metalious's 1956 scandalous novel, then 1964-1969 TV series
Spelling variants
- Payton
- Peyten
Names with the same feeling
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