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    The surname Berkeley

    An English place surname, carried by 1,322 people in the United States.

    Pronounced /ˈbɝkli/ 2 syllables Soundex B624 Also a first name

    Berkeley: #20,172 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer Berkeley #20,172, 1,322 people Berkeley: #20,172 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Berkeley #20,172, 1,322 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Berkeley is more common than 87.6% of them.

    Origin

    English origin

    From Old English beorc (“birch”) + leah (“meadow, leigh”). Equivalent to birch + -ley (“lea”).

    Berkeley is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

    One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 1,322 people named Berkeley in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 233,544 Americans. That is up 4.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 1,268.

    #20,172
    rank among US surnames
    1,322
    people in 2010
    0.5
    per 100,000 Americans
    +4.3%
    change since 2000 (was #19,672)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #20,165Meckley1,323233,368
    #20,172Melchior1,322233,544

    Who is named Berkeley

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

    62% of people named Berkeley identified as white (not Hispanic), 28% as Black (not Hispanic) and 4.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 62%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 28%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 4.2%
    • Two or more races 3.3%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 2.3%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Berkeleys

    5 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Busby Berkeley
      American film director and musical choreographer (1895-1976)
    • Miles Joseph Berkeley
      British botanist (1803-1889)
    • Lennox Berkeley
      British composer (1903–1989)
    • Michael Berkeley
      British composer and broadcaster on music, born 1948
    • George Cranfield Berkeley
      British admiral and politician (1753-1818)

    Notable Berkeleys come mostly from the United Kingdom (2), the United States (1) 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

    Surnames that sound like Berkeley

    Berkeley has the Soundex code B624, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code B624.

    Other English surnames

    All 1,446 English surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Berkeley come from?
    From Old English beorc (“birch”) + leah (“meadow, leigh”). Equivalent to birch + -ley (“lea”).
    How common is the surname Berkeley?
    1,322 people in the United States had the surname Berkeley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 233,544 Americans. It ranked 20,172nd of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Berkeley?
    In the 2010 Census, 62% of people named Berkeley identified as white (not Hispanic), and 28% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Berkeley?
    Busby Berkeley, American film director and musical choreographer (1895-1976), followed by Miles Joseph Berkeley.
    Where is the surname Berkeley most common?
    Wikidata records people named Berkeley in the United Kingdom, the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and 1 other country.
    How do you pronounce Berkeley?
    Berkeley is /ˈbɝkli/, 2 syllables.
    What type of surname is Berkeley?
    Berkeley is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
    Is the surname Berkeley getting more or less common?
    More common. 1,268 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 1,322 in 2010, up 4.3%.
    What are other spellings of Berkeley?
    Barclay, Barclift and Barkley.
    Is Berkeley also a first name?
    Yes. Berkeley is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.