How common is the surname Doherty?

27,787 people in the United States had the surname Doherty in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 11,111 Americans. It ranked 1,264th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Doherty?

In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Doherty identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Doherty?

Shannen Doherty, American actress (1971–2024), followed by Peter C. Doherty.

Where is the surname Doherty most common?

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

Is the surname Doherty getting more or less common?

More common. 26,978 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 27,787 in 2010, up 3.0%.

The surname Doherty

An Irish surname, carried by 27,787 people in the United States.

3 syllables Soundex D630

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Doherty is more common than 99.2% of them.

Origin

Irish origin

From Irish Ó Dochartaigh.

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 27,787 people named Doherty in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 11,111 Americans. That is up 3.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 26,978.

#1,264

rank among US surnames

27,787

people in 2010

9.4

per 100,000 Americans

+3%

change since 2000 (was #1,191)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,255	Chacon	27,982	11,034
#1,256	Renteria	27,976	11,036
#1,257	Mohamed	27,972	11,038
#1,258	Nicholas	27,922	11,057
#1,259	Kendrick	27,915	11,060
#1,260	Ferreira	27,898	11,067
#1,261	Lockhart	27,883	11,073

Who is named Doherty

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

95% of people named Doherty identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.4% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 95%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.0%
Two or more races 1.4%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.9%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Dohertys

8 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Shannen Doherty
American actress (1971–2024)
Peter C. Doherty
Australian immunologist, born 1940
Erin Doherty
British actress, born 1992
Xavier Doherty
Australian cricketer, born 1982
Sean Doherty
American biathlete, born 1995
Ken Doherty
American decathlete (1905-1996)
William Doherty
American entomologist (1857–1901)
Paul C. Doherty
British educator and author, born 1946

Notable Dohertys come mostly from the United States (4), Australia (2) and the United Kingdom (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Surnames that sound like Doherty

Doherty has the Soundex code D630, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code D630.

Other Irish surnames

All 880 Irish surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Doherty come from?: From Irish Ó Dochartaigh.
How common is the surname Doherty?: 27,787 people in the United States had the surname Doherty in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 11,111 Americans. It ranked 1,264th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Doherty?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Doherty identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Doherty?: Shannen Doherty, American actress (1971–2024), followed by Peter C. Doherty.
Where is the surname Doherty most common?: Wikidata records people named Doherty in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Is the surname Doherty getting more or less common?: More common. 26,978 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 27,787 in 2010, up 3.0%.
What are other spellings of Doherty?: Daugherty and Dougherty.