The Tilton surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 8,124 people carried this name — #4,376 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 36,400 people counted. That is up 2% from 7,997 in 2000.

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What the name means

The meaning of the Tilton surname

Habitational surname from the village of Tilton on the Hill, in Leicestershire, from the Old English personal name Tila + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”).

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Tilton» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.

In the first U.S. census, 1790

96 families named Tilton, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 592 people lived in those households, 6.2 to a family on average. The table counts it together with one other spelling. The table lists white heads of families only, in the twelve states whose 1790 records survive; Virginia’s figures come from state lists of 1782–1785.

Families, by state

New Hampshire 53
Massachusetts 29
Maine 5
New York 5
Pennsylvania 3
North Carolina 1

U.S. Census Bureau, «A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900» (Washington, 1909), table 111, p. 265 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.

In print

Tilton in American newspapers,
1874.

Newspaper page from The Cairo Bulletin carrying the name Tilton
The Cairo Bulletin 1874-08-30
Newspaper page from The Cairo Bulletin carrying the name Tilton
The Cairo Bulletin 1874-07-23
Newspaper page from The Cairo Bulletin carrying the name Tilton
The Cairo Bulletin 1874-08-04

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 80,319 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Tilton in Australian newspapers,
1850s–1980s.

1,902 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Tilton. The most, 810, date from the 1870s. Weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, it stands out most in Victoria, at 1.5 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

Victoria 769
New South Wales 532
Queensland 224
South Australia 192
Tasmania 99
Western Australia 69
ACT (Canberra) 8
Northern Territory 3

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Tilton.

Who carried it

People named Tilton,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Charles Elliott Tilton
    Charles Elliott Tilton 1827–1901 · industrialist
  • Theodore Tilton
    Theodore Tilton 1835–1907 · writer
  • James Tilton d. 1998 · lighting designer
  • Abraham Tilton d. 1728
  • Joseph Tilton 1676–1744
  • Abigail Tilton 1679–1727

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Tilton,
in the records of 4 countries.

Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.

United States887 records

887 records of the Tilton name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 332
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 281
  • U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 154
  • New York State death index (outside NYC), 1957–2001 53
  • U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 35
  • Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 29
  • Riverside Cemetery, Asheville (North Carolina) 1
  • Irish Famine arrivals at New York, 1846–1851 1
  • U.S. service members who died in the Korean War 1
  1. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Robert A. Tilton

    Born 1918 in Colorado. Enlisted 1942 at Denver; rubber worker from Araphahoe County. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1989, buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery, Colorado.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Mary Tilton

    Arrived at Boston in 1884 aboard the Catalonia from Liverpool, aged 37; servant. From Ireland; bound for Lawrence.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)
  3. A U.S. Army record of death and interment, Camp Nelson, Kentucky, 1864
    Example: U.S. burial record, 1864
    Burial record Arthur C. Tilton

    U.S. Army veteran of World War I. Born 1889, died 1976; buried at San Francisco National Cemetery, California.

    U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)

Showing 3 of 887 records for Tilton in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · City of Asheville (public domain, PDDL) · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Record of death and interment, Camp Nelson, Kentucky, 1864, U.S. National Archives (public domain).

Australia27 records

27 records of the Tilton name in Australia
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 10
  • Victoria wills and probate, deaths to 2001 9
  • Tasmanian Names Index 5
  • Queensland State Archives indexes 2
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 1
  1. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record David Tilton

    Arrived in Victoria in 1853 aboard the Nebraska, aged 32; Canadian.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A petition to the probate court of St. Louis, 1848
    Example: probate petition, 1848
    Probate record Thomas H. J. Tilton

    Former railway employee of Euroa, Victoria; died 1952.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A page of the Livre d’or of the French war dead, Paris
    Example: roll of the war dead
    War record A. G. Tilton

    Australian Artillery. Listed among the dead in the War Office casualty list of 1917.

    National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain)

Showing 3 of 27 records for Tilton in Australia.

Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain); Livre d’or of the war dead, Paris, Ministère des pensions, Archives nationales (CC0).

Canada16 records

16 records of the Tilton name in Canada
  • Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver 8
  • Canadian Virtual War Memorial 3
  • City of Niagara Falls (Ontario) cemetery records 3
  • Nova Scotia Archives name indexes 2
  1. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Peter Tilton

    Buried in 1924 at Fairview Cemetery, Niagara Falls, Ontario.

    City of Niagara Falls. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Niagara Falls.
  2. A Canadian First World War grave register card for a soldier who died of wounds in 1917
    Example: Canadian war grave register, 1917
    War record Joseph Tilton

    Died in service in 1917.

    Veterans Affairs Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada.
  3. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Birth record Samuel Tilton

    Born 1875 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.

    Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia.

Showing 3 of 16 records for Tilton in Canada.

Counts: City of Vancouver. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. · Veterans Affairs Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. · City of Niagara Falls. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Niagara Falls. · Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0); Canadian First World War circumstances-of-death register (scan by Scottgraham87 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).

New Zealand1 record

1 record of the Tilton name in New Zealand War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead
  1. A page of the Livre d’or of the French war dead, Paris
    Example: roll of the war dead
    War record J. Tilton

    New Zealand Divisional Signal Company. Listed among the dead in the War Office casualty list of 1917.

    National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain)

Counts: National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Livre d’or of the war dead, Paris, Ministère des pensions, Archives nationales (CC0).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Tilton.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Tilton is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

See the Tilton volume
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