How common is the surname Dunbar?

26,405 people in the United States had the surname Dunbar in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 11,693 Americans. It ranked 1,335th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Dunbar?

Rockmond Dunbar, American actor, followed by Bonnie J. Dunbar.

Where is the surname Dunbar most common?

Wikidata records people named Dunbar in the United States and the United Kingdom.

How do you pronounce Dunbar?

Dunbar is /dʌnˈbɑː(ɹ)/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Dunbar getting more or less common?

More common. 24,871 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 26,405 in 2010, up 6.2%.

The surname Dunbar

A Scottish Gaelic surname, carried by 26,405 people in the United States.

Pronounced /dʌnˈbɑː(ɹ)/ 2 syllables Soundex D516

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

Origin

Scottish Gaelic origin

Historically Dynbaer. From Cumbric *dyn (“fort”) + *barr (“hill-crest, summit, top”).

One of 277 Scottish Gaelic surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 26,405 people named Dunbar in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 11,693 Americans. That is up 6.2% since 2000, when the Census counted 24,871.

#1,335

rank among US surnames

26,405

people in 2010

8.9

per 100,000 Americans

+6.2%

change since 2000 (was #1,299)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,326	Rucker	26,581	11,615
#1,327	Gabriel	26,578	11,617
#1,328	Herron	26,559	11,625
#1,329	McNamara	26,534	11,636
#1,330	Rouse	26,519	11,642
#1,331	Burt	26,475	11,662
#1,332	Battle	26,432	11,681

Who is named Dunbar

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

64% of people named Dunbar identified as white (not Hispanic), 30% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 64%
Black (not Hispanic) 30%
Two or more races 2.4%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Dunbars

11 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Rockmond Dunbar
American actor, born 1973
Bonnie J. Dunbar
American engineer and astronaut, born 1949
Paul Laurence Dunbar
American poet, novelist, and short story writer (1872–1906)
Alice Dunbar Nelson
American writer, activist (1875-1935)
Robin Dunbar
British evolutionary psychologist (1947-)
James Dunbar
American rower (1930-2018)
Helen Dunbar
American actress (1863-1933)
Dorothy Dunbar
American actress (1902-1992)
Dixie Dunbar
American actress (1919-1991)
Charles Franklin Dunbar
American economist (1830-1900)
Helen Flanders Dunbar
American psychiatrist (1902-1959)

Notable Dunbars come mostly from the United States (10) and the United Kingdom (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Dynbaer

Surnames that sound like Dunbar

Dunford

Dunbar has the Soundex code D516, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code D516.

Other Scottish Gaelic surnames

All 277 Scottish Gaelic surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Dunbar come from?: Historically Dynbaer. From Cumbric *dyn (“fort”) + *barr (“hill-crest, summit, top”).
How common is the surname Dunbar?: 26,405 people in the United States had the surname Dunbar in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 11,693 Americans. It ranked 1,335th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Dunbar?: In the 2010 Census, 64% of people named Dunbar identified as white (not Hispanic), and 30% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Dunbar?: Rockmond Dunbar, American actor, followed by Bonnie J. Dunbar.
Where is the surname Dunbar most common?: Wikidata records people named Dunbar in the United States and the United Kingdom.
How do you pronounce Dunbar?: Dunbar is /dʌnˈbɑː(ɹ)/, 2 syllables.
Is the surname Dunbar getting more or less common?: More common. 24,871 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 26,405 in 2010, up 6.2%.
What are other spellings of Dunbar?: Dynbaer.