# Baxter (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/baxter/  
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 originating in northern England and in Scotland, a variant of Baker.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 49,033 |
| US rank (2010) | 706 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 6,297 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.5% (47,857 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbækstɚ/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Middle English bakster, bakestre, from Old English bæcestre (“baker”), equivalent to bake + -ster.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Baxter 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) | 80% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 14% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

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

## People named Baxter

- Anne Baxter, American actress (1923–1985)
- Warner Baxter, American actor (1889–1951)
- Irving Baxter, American athletics competitor (born 1876)
- Meredith Baxter, American actress and producer (born 1947)
- Jeff Baxter, American guitarist
- Les Baxter, American musician, singer, composer (1922–1996)
- Alan Baxter, American actor (1908–1976)
- Lonny Baxter, American basketball player (born 1979)
- Stanley Baxter, British actor (1926–2025)
- William H. Baxter, American linguist
- Kirk Baxter, Australian film editor
- Rodney Baxter, Australian physicist

and 10 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Buster, Backstrom, Bostrom, Bester, Beckstrom, Boster, Bystrom.

## 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.