# Dudley (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/dudley/  
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, notably of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester at the time of Elizabeth I.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 35,781 |
| US rank (2010) | 972 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 8,629 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.9% (34,770 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈdʌdli/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Dowdall |

## Etymology

From Old English, literally "wood or clearing of Dudda (a personal name of unknown meaning)".

## Who carries it

Share of people named Dudley 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) | 66% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 28% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.6% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.7% |
| Two or more races | 2.5% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Dudley in the United States and the Kingdom of England.

## People named Dudley

- Jared Dudley, American basketball player (born 1985)
- Olivia Dudley, American actress
- Anne Dallas Dudley, American women's suffrage activist (1876-1955)
- Chris Dudley, American basketball player (born 1965)
- William Russel Dudley, Botanist (1849-1911)
- Robert Dudley, American actor (1869–1955)
- William C. Dudley, American banker
- Bill Dudley, American football player (1921-2010)
- Underwood Dudley, American mathematician
- Dave Dudley, American musician (1928–2003)
- Charles E. Dudley, American politician, New York
- James Dudley, Baseball player; professional wrestling executive (1910–2004)

and 6 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Dowdell, Dowdle, Dattilo, Ditullio, Dowdall.

## 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.