# Badger (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/badger/  
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) | 7,987 |
| US rank (2010) | 4,442 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 38,656 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.8% (7,620 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbæd͡ʒɚ/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Old English *Bæcg (“a personal name”) + ofer (“hill spur”). The name of the town in Newfoundland likely derives from the surname of one of its first inhabitants.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Badger 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) | 77% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 18% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.9% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4% |
| Two or more races | 2.3% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Badger in the United States.

## People named Badger

- Clarence G. Badger, American film director (1880–1964)
- George Edmund Badger, American Secretary of the Navy and senator for North Carolina (1795-1866)
- Charlotte Badger, Australian pirate
- Pat Badger, American musician
- Oscar C. Badger II, American naval officer; United States Navy Medal of Honor recipient (1890-1958)
- Clarissa Munger Badger, American botanical artist (1806–1889)

## Similar surnames

Boger, Butcher, Boettcher, Bhattacharya, Bitzer, Boettger, Boedeker.

## 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.