# Bassett (surname)

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

An English surname transferred from the nickname derived from a nickname for a short person.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | French |
| Type | nickname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 20,482 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,750 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 15,074 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.2% (20,032 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbæsət/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Basset |

## Etymology

From bassett, basset, from French basset.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Bassett 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) | 9.7% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 1.9% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Bassett in the United States and Australia.

## People named Bassett

- Joshua Bassett, American actor and singer-songwriter
- Angela Bassett, American actress (born 1958)
- Richard Bassett, American politician (1745-1815)
- Natasha Bassett, Australian actress
- Cole Bassett, American soccer player
- Russell Bassett, actor (1845-1918)
- Leslie Bassett, American composer (1923–2016)
- Johnnie Bassett, American electric blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter (1935–2012)
- Tim Bassett, American basketball player (1951–2018)
- Stephen Bassett, American bicycle racer
- Edward Bassett, American lawyer and politician (1863-1948)

## Similar surnames

Bessette, Bast, Bissett, Basta, Bissette, Basto, Baggett, Baskett, Best, Beckett, Beckwith, Bost.

## 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.