# Braithwaite (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/braithwaite/  
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 Norse.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Norse |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 3,898 |
| US rank (2010) | 8,470 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 79,206 people |
| Change since 2000 | +15% (3,402 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Old Norse breiðr (“broad”) + þveit (“clearing”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Braithwaite 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) | 62% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 31% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4% |
| Two or more races | 3.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Braithwaite in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

## People named Braithwaite

- Kenneth Braithwaite, American ambassador and retired admiral
- Darren Braithwaite, British athlete
- William Stanley Braithwaite, American writer, poet and literary critic (1878-1962)
- Daryl Braithwaite, Australian singer

## Similar surnames

Brathwaite, Burdette, Burdett, Broadwater, Broadhead.

## 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.