# Chaney (surname)

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

A surname from Anglo-Norman.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Norman |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 33,201 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,059 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 9,299 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.4% (32,433 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Variant of Chesney.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Chaney 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) | 71% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 23% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 2.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Chaney in the United States.

## People named Chaney

- Lon Chaney, American actor (1883–1930)
- Lon Chaney Jr., American actor (1906–1974)
- Don Chaney, American basketball player and coach
- Norman Chaney, American child actor (1914–1936)
- James Chaney, American activist (1943-1964)

## Similar surnames

Chen, Chan, Cheney, Chain, Coney, Caine, Cane, Cohan, Cahn, Cham, Can, Canoy.

## 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.