# Bolt (surname)

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

A surname transferred from the nickname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 7,504 |
| US rank (2010) | 4,726 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 41,144 people |
| Change since 2000 | +7.9% (6,956 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, from the noun bolt, for a maker of bolts, or a nickname for a short and heavy person. * Also as an English surname, variant of Bold. * As a Dutch, north/Low German and Danish surname, from the old Germanic name Baldo, derived from the adjective bold and related to the above. Compare Boldt.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Bolt 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) | 89% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 5.5% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.3% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.7% |
| Two or more races | 1.4% |

## Where

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

## People named Bolt

- Alex Bolt, Australian tennis player
- Bruce Bolt, American seismologist (1930–2005)

## Similar surnames

Belt, Bolte, Belote, Bold, Bult, Boldt, Blythe, Blood, Bilodeau, Blatt, Billiot, Blade.

## 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.