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    The surname Atherton

    An English place surname, carried by 6,466 people in the United States.

    Pronounced /ˈæθɚtən/ 3 syllables Soundex A363

    Atherton: #5,382 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer Atherton #5,382, 6,466 people Atherton: #5,382 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Atherton #5,382, 6,466 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Atherton is more common than 96.7% of them.

    Origin

    English origin

    From the Old English personal name Æþelhere + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”), equivalent to Old English Æþelhere + -ton.

    Atherton is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

    One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 6,466 people named Atherton in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 47,749 Americans. That is about the same as in 2000, when the Census counted 6,435.

    #5,382
    rank among US surnames
    6,466
    people in 2010
    2.2
    per 100,000 Americans
    +0.5%
    change since 2000 (was #5,000)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #5,373Cushing6,48047,646
    #5,374Canter6,47747,668
    #5,375Billups6,47547,683
    #5,376Valentino6,47447,690
    #5,377Newhouse6,47147,712
    #5,378Campo6,47047,720
    #5,379Hatley6,46847,734

    Who is named Atherton

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    92% of people named Atherton identified as white (not Hispanic), 3.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 2.1% as Black (not Hispanic).

    • White (not Hispanic) 92%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.4%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 2.1%
    • Two or more races 1.6%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.2%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Athertons

    4 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • William Atherton
      American actor, born 1947
    • Gertrude Atherton
      American author (1857–1948)
    • Charles G. Atherton
      American politician (1804-1853)
    • Minna Atherton
      Australian swimmer, born 2000

    Notable Athertons come mostly from the United States (3) and Australia (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Variant spellings

    Atherton has the Soundex code A363, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code A363.

    Other English surnames

    All 1,446 English surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Atherton come from?
    From the Old English personal name Æþelhere + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”), equivalent to Old English Æþelhere + -ton.
    How common is the surname Atherton?
    6,466 people in the United States had the surname Atherton in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 47,749 Americans. It ranked 5,382nd of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Atherton?
    In the 2010 Census, 92% of people named Atherton identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
    Who is the most famous person named Atherton?
    William Atherton, American actor, followed by Gertrude Atherton.
    Where is the surname Atherton most common?
    Wikidata records people named Atherton in the United States and Australia.
    How do you pronounce Atherton?
    Atherton is /ˈæθɚtən/, 3 syllables.
    What type of surname is Atherton?
    Atherton is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
    Is the surname Atherton getting more or less common?
    More common. 6,435 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 6,466 in 2010, up 0.5%.
    What are other spellings of Atherton?
    Atterton, Eatherton and Etherton.