How common is the surname Behan?

2,862 people in the United States had the surname Behan in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 107,878 Americans. It ranked 11,092nd of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Behan?

In the 2010 Census, 91% of people named Behan identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.4% as American Indian and Alaska Native.

Is the surname Behan getting more or less common?

More common. 2,485 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 2,862 in 2010, up 15%.

The surname Behan

An Irish patronymic surname, carried by 2,862 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex B500

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Behan is more common than 93.2% of them.

Origin

Irish origin

Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Beacháin (“descendant of Beachán”), a personal name derived from a hypocoristic form of beach (“bee”).

Behan is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 2,862 people named Behan in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 107,878 Americans. That is up 15% since 2000, when the Census counted 2,485.

#11,092

rank among US surnames

2,862

people in 2010

1.0

per 100,000 Americans

+15.2%

change since 2000 (was #11,590)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#11,086	Mauck	2,863	107,840
#11,092	Mounce	2,862	107,878
#11,095	Loewen	2,861	107,915
#11,099	Lasater	2,860	107,953
#11,101	Granda	2,859	107,991

Who is named Behan

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

91% of people named Behan identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.4% as American Indian and Alaska Native and 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 91%
American Indian and Alaska Native 2.4%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
Asian and Pacific Islander 2.1%
Two or more races 1.3%
Black (not Hispanic) 1.0%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Behan

Behan has the Soundex code B500, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code B500.

Other Irish surnames

All 880 Irish surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Behan come from?: Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Beacháin (“descendant of Beachán”), a personal name derived from a hypocoristic form of beach (“bee”).
How common is the surname Behan?: 2,862 people in the United States had the surname Behan in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 107,878 Americans. It ranked 11,092nd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Behan?: In the 2010 Census, 91% of people named Behan identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.4% as American Indian and Alaska Native.
What type of surname is Behan?: Behan is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Behan getting more or less common?: More common. 2,485 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 2,862 in 2010, up 15%.