# Bradford (surname)

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

A habitational surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 54,015 |
| US rank (2010) | 628 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 5,716 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.4% (51,726 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbɹædfɚd/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* Various place names in England, from Old English brād (“broad”) + ford (“ford”). * (shaken martini)

## Who carries it

Share of people named Bradford 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) | 65% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 29% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 2.5% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Bradford in the United States and the United Kingdom.

## People named Bradford

- Jesse Bradford, American actor
- William Bradford, American judge and second United States Attorney General (1755-1795)
- Sam Bradford, American football player (born 1987)
- James Bradford, American weightlifter (1928-2013)
- Richard Bradford, American actor (1934–2016)
- Lane Bradford, American actor (1922-1973)
- Sarah Bradford, American head teacher, writer and biographer (1818–1912)
- William Bradford, American physician and United States senator from Rhode Island (1729-1808)
- Augustus Bradford, American politician (1806-1881)
- Virginia Bradford, American actress (1899–1995)
- Perry Bradford, American musician (1893–1970)
- William Bradford, American painter known for his marines (1823-1892)

and 4 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Bradbury, Bradfield, Bradberry, Bradburn, Broadbent, Brodbeck, Breithaupt.

## 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.