How Many People Are Named Billy Thornton?

There are approximately 56 people named Billy Thornton living in the United States today. That makes this name combination rare, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 6,120,613 Americans.

This estimate combines SSA birth records for the first name Billy with Census Bureau frequency data for the surname Thornton. Below you will find a breakdown of both names, including popularity trends, gender data, and Census background data where it is available.

Estimated People with This Name

1 in 6,120,613 Americans

Combination Rarity

Rare

Very Rare Very Common

First Name

Billy

Last Name

Thornton

Billy: Popularity Over Time

Year-by-year SSA birth registrations for the first name Billy. The peak year was 1934 with 9,659 births. The average person named Billy today is 63 years old.

Male

Female

Ancestry of the First Name Billy

In the 2020 Census, the first name Billy was most commonly recorded among people who identified as White (77.15%). The next largest recorded groups were Black (11.88%) and Hispanic (4.07%).

These percentages describe the people who had the first name Billy in the 2020 Census. They do not tell you the deeper origin or meaning of the name itself.

Read this as a snapshot of who already had the name in 2020, not as a trend line. The SSA chart above is still the better way to see how Billy rose or fell over time.

White

77.15%

Black

11.88%

Hispanic

4.07%

Asian/Pacific Islander

2.27%

American Indian/Alaska Native

1.47%

Two or More Races

3.15%

Ancestry of the Thornton Surname

The surname Thornton was most commonly recorded among people who identified as White in the 2020 Census.

This is a self-reported race and ethnicity breakdown for people who had the surname Thornton in the published Census surname tables. It gives useful context around who was recorded with the name, but it does not tell the full family history of every Boone line.

White

65.38%

Black

25.91%

Hispanic

3.00%

Asian/Pacific Islander

0.62%

American Indian/Alaska Native

0.52%

Two or More Races

4.56%

How we calculated this

The first name "Billy" has an estimated frequency of 0.0623% among living Americans, based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024 adjusted for mortality using CDC 2023 life tables.

The surname "Thornton" appears at a rate of 26.07 per 100,000 people in the 2020 U.S. Census.

We do not use the Census first-name snapshot for the main estimate because it is only published once every 10 years. The latest public first-name Census file is from 2020, which is already 6 years old. SSA birth records plus CDC survival data give a better current estimate of how many people with the first name Billy are likely to be alive now.

Multiplying these frequencies against the U.S. population of ~343 million gives 56 estimated people. This assumes first names and last names are statistically independent. Full methodology.

Other people named Billy

Billy Smith Billy Johnson Billy Williams Billy Brown Billy Jones Billy Garcia Billy Miller Billy Anderson

Other people with the surname Thornton

Michael Thornton James Thornton John Thornton David Thornton Robert Thornton William Thornton Scott Thornton Adam Thornton

Billy Thornton: Questions and Answers

How many people are named Billy Thornton?

We estimate approximately 56 people named Billy Thornton are alive in the United States today. The first name Billy is shared by 213,640 Americans, and the surname Thornton is shared by 89,341.

How rare is the name Billy Thornton?

This name combination is classified as Rare, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 6,120,613 Americans. The first name Billy is common and the surname Thornton is uncommon.

Is Billy a male or female name?

Billy is predominantly male, with 98.6% of bearers being male and 1.4% female. It peaked in popularity in 1934 and the average bearer today is 63 years old.

What does the Census say about the first name Billy?

In the 2020 Census, the first name Billy was most commonly recorded among people who identified as White (77.15%). The next largest recorded groups were Black (11.88%) and Hispanic (4.07%). These percentages describe the people who had the name in the 2020 Census, not the deeper origin of the name itself.

Where does this data come from?

First name data comes from the Social Security Administration (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables. When available, first-name Census background data comes from the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau first-name tables. Surname data comes from the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau. Full methodology.

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