How common is the surname Espy?

1,851 people in the United States had the surname Espy in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 166,799 Americans. It ranked 15,748th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Espy?

Mike Espy, 25th United States Secretary of Agriculture, followed by James Pollard Espy.

Where is the surname Espy most common?

Wikidata records people named Espy in the United States.

Is the surname Espy getting more or less common?

About as common. 1,851 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 1,851 in 2010, a change of 0.0%.

The surname Espy

A surname, carried by 1,851 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex E210

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Espy is more common than 90.3% of them.

Origin

Shortened form of Gillespie.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 1,851 people named Espy in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 166,799 Americans. That is about the same as in 2000, when the Census counted 1,851.

#15,748

rank among US surnames

1,851

people in 2010

0.6

per 100,000 Americans

change since 2000 (was #14,715)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#15,743	Blossom	1,852	166,709
#15,748	Grondin	1,851	166,799

Who is named Espy

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

77% of people named Espy identified as white (not Hispanic), 16% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.7% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 77%
Black (not Hispanic) 16%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.7%
Two or more races 2.6%

The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Asian & Pacific Islander, Native American are not shown.

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Espys

2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Mike Espy
25th United States Secretary of Agriculture, born 1953
James Pollard Espy
American meteorologist, 1785–1860

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Espey

Surnames that sound like Espy

Espey

Espy has the Soundex code E210, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code E210.

Questions

Where does the surname Espy come from?: Shortened form of Gillespie.
How common is the surname Espy?: 1,851 people in the United States had the surname Espy in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 166,799 Americans. It ranked 15,748th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Espy?: In the 2010 Census, 77% of people named Espy identified as white (not Hispanic), and 16% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Espy?: Mike Espy, 25th United States Secretary of Agriculture, followed by James Pollard Espy.
Where is the surname Espy most common?: Wikidata records people named Espy in the United States.
Is the surname Espy getting more or less common?: About as common. 1,851 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 1,851 in 2010, a change of 0.0%.
What are other spellings of Espy?: Espey.