# Alston (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/alston/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A habitational surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 30,693 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,148 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 10,059 people |
| Change since 2000 | +9.3% (28,089 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Old English Ælfes (given name with possessive) tun, translating as "Ælf's town".

## Who carries it

Share of people named Alston in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 14% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 80% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.2% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4% |
| Two or more races | 3.3% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Alston in the United States and Australia.

## People named Alston

- William Alston, American Christian philosopher (1921–2009)
- Rafer Alston, American basketball player
- Adrian Alston, Australian soccer player
- Derrick Alston, American basketball player (born 1972)
- Charles Alston, African-American visual artist (1907-1977)
- Walter Alston, American baseball player and manager (1911–1984)
- Kevin Alston, American soccer player
- Ashanti Omowali Alston, American anarchist activist (1954-)

## Similar surnames

Ahlstrom, Allgood, Alcott, Alligood, Alzate, Alizadeh.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.