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    The surname Dempsey

    An Irish patronymic surname, carried by 26,863 people in the United States.

    2 syllables Soundex D512

    Dempsey: #1,308 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Dempsey #1,308, 26,863 people Dempsey: #1,308 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Dempsey #1,308, 26,863 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Dempsey is more common than 99.2% of them.

    Origin

    Irish origin

    Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Díomasaigh (“descendant of Díomasach”), a byname deriving from díomasach (“proud, arrogant”).

    Dempsey is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

    One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 26,863 people named Dempsey in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 11,493 Americans. That is up 1.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 26,403.

    #1,308
    rank among US surnames
    26,863
    people in 2010
    9.1
    per 100,000 Americans
    +1.7%
    change since 2000 (was #1,215)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #1,299Madrigal27,03311,421
    #1,300Clemons27,02211,426
    #1,301Rosado26,99811,436
    #1,302Broussard26,97111,447
    #1,303McGinnis26,95311,455
    #1,304Hatch26,90311,476
    #1,305Sheehan26,90211,477

    Who is named Dempsey

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    89% of people named Dempsey identified as white (not Hispanic), 5.6% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 89%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 5.6%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
    • Two or more races 1.7%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.9%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Dempsey

    Dempsey has the Soundex code D512, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code D512.

    Other Irish surnames

    All 880 Irish surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Dempsey come from?
    Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Díomasaigh (“descendant of Díomasach”), a byname deriving from díomasach (“proud, arrogant”).
    How common is the surname Dempsey?
    26,863 people in the United States had the surname Dempsey in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 11,493 Americans. It ranked 1,308th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Dempsey?
    In the 2010 Census, 89% of people named Dempsey identified as white (not Hispanic), and 5.6% as Black (not Hispanic).
    What type of surname is Dempsey?
    Dempsey is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
    Is the surname Dempsey getting more or less common?
    More common. 26,403 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 26,863 in 2010, up 1.7%.