# Chaplin (surname)

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

A surname originating as an occupation.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 6,513 |
| US rank (2010) | 5,344 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 47,405 people |
| Change since 2000 | +7.4% (6,063 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈt͡ʃæplɪn/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Chaplain |

## Etymology

An occupational surname for a chaplain, from Middle English and Old French chapelain.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Chaplin 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) | 75% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 21% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4% |
| Two or more races | 1.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Chaplin in the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland and Australia.

## People named Chaplin

- Geraldine Chaplin, British-American actress
- Sydney Chaplin, American film and theater actor (1926-2009)
- Josephine Chaplin, American actress (1949–2023)
- Charles Chaplin, American actor (1925-1968)
- Michael Chaplin, American actor
- Ralph Chaplin, American writer, artist and labor activist
- Christopher Chaplin, British actor
- Alexander Chaplin, American actor
- Victoria Chaplin, British-American circus performer
- Shelley Chaplin, Australian Paralympic wheelchair basketball player
- Oona O'Neill, American-British actress (1925–1991)

## Similar surnames

Caplan, Caplinger, Coplin, Copeland, Coblentz, Capellan, Couvillion.

## 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.