How common is the surname Atwater?

4,289 people in the United States had the surname Atwater in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 71,985 Americans. It ranked 7,739th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Atwater?

Lee Atwater, American political consultant and strategist (1951–1991), followed by Tanya Atwater.

Where is the surname Atwater most common?

Wikidata records people named Atwater in the United States.

Is the surname Atwater getting more or less common?

More common. 4,067 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,289 in 2010, up 5.5%.

The surname Atwater

A place surname, carried by 4,289 people in the United States.

3 syllables Soundex A336

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Atwater is more common than 95.2% of them.

Origin

From at + water, a toponymic surname for someone who lived by a river or lake.

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

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 4,289 people named Atwater in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 71,985 Americans. That is up 5.5% since 2000, when the Census counted 4,067.

#7,739

rank among US surnames

4,289

people in 2010

1.4

per 100,000 Americans

+5.5%

change since 2000 (was #7,543)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#7,732	Forsberg	4,294	71,902
#7,734	Beaudry	4,293	71,918
#7,737	Litchfield	4,290	71,969
#7,739	Atwater	4,289	71,985
#7,743	Bradfield	4,288	72,002
#7,744	Depriest	4,287	72,019

Who is named Atwater

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

60% of people named Atwater identified as white (not Hispanic), 34% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.8% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 60%
Black (not Hispanic) 34%
Two or more races 2.8%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Atwaters

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Lee Atwater
American political consultant and strategist (1951–1991)
Tanya Atwater
American geophysicist and marine geologist (born 1942)
Wilbur Olin Atwater
American agricultural chemist (1844–1907); developer of the respiration calorimeter
Edith Atwater
American stage, film and television actress (1911-1986)
Barry Atwater
American actor (1918-1978)
Steve Atwater
American football safety, born 1966

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Attwater

Atwater has the Soundex code A336, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code A336.

Questions

Where does the surname Atwater come from?: From at + water, a toponymic surname for someone who lived by a river or lake.
How common is the surname Atwater?: 4,289 people in the United States had the surname Atwater in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 71,985 Americans. It ranked 7,739th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Atwater?: In the 2010 Census, 60% of people named Atwater identified as white (not Hispanic), and 34% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Atwater?: Lee Atwater, American political consultant and strategist (1951–1991), followed by Tanya Atwater.
Where is the surname Atwater most common?: Wikidata records people named Atwater in the United States.
What type of surname is Atwater?: Atwater is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Atwater getting more or less common?: More common. 4,067 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,289 in 2010, up 5.5%.
What are other spellings of Atwater?: Attwater.