# Banister (surname)

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

A surname originating as an occupation for a maker of baskets.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 3,141 |
| US rank (2010) | 10,260 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 98,295 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.3% (3,069 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

English and Norman surname, variant of Bannister.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Banister 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) | 84% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 10% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.3% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 2.0% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Banister in the United States.

## People named Banister

- Guy Banister, American FBI agent (1901–1964)

## Similar surnames

Bannister, Bankston, Bankhead, Byington, Bengtson, Baumeister, Boyington.

## 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.