# Cunningham (surname)

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

A Scottish habitational surname and clan.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 135,718 |
| US rank (2010) | 211 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 2,275 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.9% (131,896 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkʌnɪŋəm/, 3 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Scottish Gaelic Coineagan, a district of Ayrshire, either from Old English cyning (“king”) or Scottish Gaelic coineanach (“rabbit”) + Old English hām (“home, estate; hamlet, village”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Cunningham 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) | 73% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 21% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.6% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Cunningham in the United States, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the United Kingdom and Australia.

## People named Cunningham

- Michael Cunningham, American novelist and screenwriter
- Alexander Cunningham, British army engineer and amateur archaeologist (1814-1893)
- Walter Cunningham, American astronaut (1932–2023)
- Merce Cunningham, American dancer and choreographer (1919–2009)
- Imogen Cunningham, American photographer (1883-1976)
- Sean S. Cunningham, American film director (born 1941)
- Vashti Cunningham, American athletics competitor
- Cara Cunningham, American Internet personality, songwriter, and recording artist
- Billy Cunningham, American basketball player and coach (born 1943)
- Dante Cunningham, American basketball player (born 1987)
- Sophie Cunningham, American basketball player born 1996
- Alan Cunningham, British Army general (1887–1983)

and 37 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Canning, Cunnington, Cummings, Cummins, Cumming, Chewning, Commons, Chowning, Channing, Cumings, Cuming.

## 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.