Newton

Where Newton comes from

Inherited from Middle English Neweton, from Old English nēowa tūn (“new town”). Compare same construction in Italian Napoli (“Naples”) and in Arabic نَابُلُس (nābulus, “Nablus”). The unexpected Early Modern pronunciation with /ɛʊ̯/ instead of /ɪʊ̯/, as securely attested in Richard Hodges' 1644 English Primrose and confirmed by obsolete Welsh Newtwnn, is due to trisyllabic shortening in Old English nēowa tūn or Middle English Neweton.
— Wiktionary's entry for Newton
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1825
    Newton Booth born
    Governor of California
  2. 1871
    Newton Diehl Baker Jr. born
    American politician
  3. 1880
    First SSA year, and the peak
    #180 among boys with 70 babies — the first year on record, and still its best.
  4. 1894
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #308.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Newton Diehl Baker Jr. · American politician, 1871–1937
  • Newton Booth · Governor of California, 1825–1892
  • Newton Thomas Sigel · American cinematographer, born 1955
  • Newton C. Blanchard · American politician, 1849–1922
  • Newton Aduaka · Nigerian filmmaker, born 1966

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.