# Bannister (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/bannister/  
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) | 8,639 |
| US rank (2010) | 4,105 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 35,739 people |
| Change since 2000 | +6.5% (8,110 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

English surname of Norman origin, from the archaic noun banaste (“basket, wickerwork”); see banne (“wicker basket”). Not related to banister.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Bannister 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) | 69% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 23% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.1% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 2.7% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Bannister in the United States, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United Kingdom.

## People named Bannister

- Edward Mitchell Bannister, Black Canadian-American visual artist (1828-1901)
- Reggie Bannister, American musician, actor and director
- Alan Bannister, British cyclist (1922-2007)
- Ken Bannister, American basketball player (born 1960)
- Trevor Bannister, British actor (1934-2011)
- Harry Bannister, American actor (1889-1961)

## Similar surnames

Banister, 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.