# Cornish (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/cornish/  
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 [in turn originating as an ethnonym], referring to someone from Cornwall.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 8,050 |
| US rank (2010) | 4,410 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 38,353 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.1% (7,887 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkɔɹ.nɪʃ/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Corn(wall) + -ish, from Cornish Kernewek, Kernowek.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Cornish 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) | 32% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.4% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 2.5% |

## Where

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

## People named Cornish

- Abbie Cornish, Australian actress (1982-)
- Joe Cornish, British comedian, television and radio presenter, director, writer and actor
- Thomas Cornish, Australian cyclist
- Robert E. Cornish, American scientist (1903-1963)
- Audie Cornish, American journalist
- Samuel Cornish, American Presbyterian minister (1795–1858)

## Similar surnames

Cornejo, Corns, Carranza, Carmichael, Crenshaw, Carnes, Carrington, Carmack, Cronk, Cairns, Crank, Czarnecki.

## 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.