# Armistead (surname)

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

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | French |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 2,528 |
| US rank (2010) | 12,296 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 122,130 people |
| Change since 2000 | -2.6% (2,596 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Armitstead, Armstead |

## Etymology

"Dweller of the hermitage", from Old French eremite (“hermit”) + Old English stede (“place”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Armistead 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) | 82% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 13% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.2% |
| Two or more races | 1.4% |

## People named Armistead

- James Armistead Lafayette, African American double agent for American rebels in the American Revolutionary War

## Similar surnames

Armstead, Armijo, Armas, Arms, Armes, Armstrong, Arrington, Arenas, Ahrens, Arango, Aronson, Arneson.

## 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.