# Cavendish (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/cavendish/  
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 place name.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 435 |
| US rank (2010) | 48,530 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 709,760 people |
| Change since 2000 | +8.2% (402 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkævəndɪʃ/, 3 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* (English village): "Cāfna's enclosure", from Old English personal name *Cāfna + edisċ (“pasture”); recorded as Kauanadisc in 1086 (DB). * (in Vermont): Likely named after William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire. * (banana): Named after William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Cavendish 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) | 94% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 1.1% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.0% |
| Two or more races | 1.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Cavendish in the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

## People named Cavendish

- Kathleen Cavendish, American socialite, sister of John F. Kennedy (1920–1948)
- William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, British aristocrat and politician (1748-1811)
- Adele Astaire, American dancer and entertainer (1896-1981)

## Similar surnames

Cavender, Cifuentes, Coventry.

## 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.