How common is the surname Banks?

105,833 people in the United States had the surname Banks in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 2,917 Americans. It ranked 292nd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Banks?

Tyra Banks, American television personality, producer, and former model, followed by Elizabeth Banks.

Where is the surname Banks most common?

Wikidata records people named Banks in the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and 1 other country.

Is the surname Banks getting more or less common?

More common. 99,294 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 105,833 in 2010, up 6.6%.

The surname Banks

A place surname, carried by 105,833 people in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex B520

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Banks is more common than 99.8% of them.

Origin

An English toponymic surname for someone who lives near a hill or bank of land.

Banks 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 105,833 people named Banks in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 2,917 Americans. That is up 6.6% since 2000, when the Census counted 99,294.

#292

rank among US surnames

105,833

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+6.6%

change since 2000 (was #278)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#283	Weber	109,433	2,821
#284	Welch	108,987	2,833
#285	Rojas	108,421	2,848
#286	Lucas	107,690	2,867
#287	Márquez	107,533	2,871
#288	Fields	107,522	2,871
#289	Park	106,696	2,894

Who is named Banks

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

55% of people named Banks identified as Black (not Hispanic), 39% as white (not Hispanic) and 3.0% as two or more races.

Black (not Hispanic) 55%
White (not Hispanic) 39%
Two or more races 3.0%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.5%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among Black Americans.

Famous Bankss

35 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Tyra Banks
American television personality, producer, and former model, born 1973
Elizabeth Banks
American actress and director (born 1974)
Jonathan Banks
American actor, born 1947
Azealia Banks
American rapper, singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman (born 1991)
Lloyd Banks
American rapper, born 1982
Banks
American singer (born 1988)
Nathaniel P. Banks
American politician of Massachusetts and general of the Union Army (1816-1894)
Ernie Banks
American baseball player and coach, 1931–2015
Jim Banks
American politician (born 1979)
Marcus Banks
American basketball player (born 1981)
Russell Banks
American writer (1940–2023)
Jimmy Banks
American soccer player (1964-2019)

Notable Bankss come mostly from the United States (29), the United Kingdom (4) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Bangs

Surnames that sound like Banks

Banks has the Soundex code B520, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code B520.

Questions

How common is the surname Banks?: 105,833 people in the United States had the surname Banks in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 2,917 Americans. It ranked 292nd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Banks?: In the 2010 Census, 55% of people named Banks identified as Black (not Hispanic), and 39% as white (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Banks?: Tyra Banks, American television personality, producer, and former model, followed by Elizabeth Banks.
Where is the surname Banks most common?: Wikidata records people named Banks in the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and 1 other country.
What type of surname is Banks?: Banks is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Banks getting more or less common?: More common. 99,294 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 105,833 in 2010, up 6.6%.
What are other spellings of Banks?: Bangs.