About SurnameRoot

Last updated: June 10, 2026

SurnameRoot is a data-driven reference for the origins, meanings, and demographics of more than 19,000 surnames found in the United States — every surname that appears 100 or more times in U.S. Census Bureau records.

What You'll Find Here

• Origin & meaning — the linguistic and cultural roots of each surname, classified by our documented methodology.
• Official demographics — national rank, bearer counts, and self-reported ethnicity distribution straight from the 2000 and 2010 Census surname files.
• Trends — how each name's rank and bearer count moved between 2000 and 2010.
• Browsing tools — explore A–Z indexes, the Top 100 surnames, and state-by-state views.

Our Data

All demographic figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau — specifically the "Frequently Occurring Surnames" files from the 2010 and 2000 Censuses, the most recent surname frequency data the Bureau has published. We present these figures unmodified; where the Bureau suppresses a value for privacy, we leave it out rather than guess. Full details, including how we classify origins and the limitations of that process, are on our Methodology page.

Our Mission

Family history shouldn't start behind a paywall. We make the public record of American surnames accessible and readable, so anyone can begin exploring their heritage with real data — and decide for themselves whether to go deeper with genealogy or DNA services.

Editorial Standards

How we produce pages, separate data from interpretation, disclose affiliate relationships, and handle corrections is documented in our Editorial Policy.

Contact

Questions, corrections, or feedback: contact@surnameroot.com or use our contact page.