How common is the surname Forrester?

13,878 people in the United States had the surname Forrester in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 22,247 Americans. It ranked 2,596th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Forrester?

Jay Wright Forrester, American operations researcher (1918–2016), followed by Bill Forrester.

Where is the surname Forrester most common?

Wikidata records people named Forrester in the United States and Australia.

Is the surname Forrester getting more or less common?

More common. 13,276 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 13,878 in 2010, up 4.5%.

The surname Forrester

An occupational surname, carried by 13,878 people in the United States.

3 syllables Soundex F623

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Forrester is more common than 98.4% of them.

Origin

An occupational or topographic surname originating as an occupation for someone who worked or lived in a forest.

Forrester is an occupational surname: named after the work an ancestor did.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 13,878 people named Forrester in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 22,247 Americans. That is up 4.5% since 2000, when the Census counted 13,276.

#2,596

rank among US surnames

13,878

people in 2010

4.7

per 100,000 Americans

+4.5%

change since 2000 (was #2,487)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#2,587	Donohue	13,919	22,182
#2,588	Moeller	13,915	22,188
#2,589	Luther	13,906	22,202
#2,590	Lofton	13,900	22,212
#2,591	Myles	13,898	22,215
#2,593	Humphreys	13,895	22,220
#2,594	Renner	13,889	22,230

Who is named Forrester

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

84% of people named Forrester identified as white (not Hispanic), 11% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 84%
Black (not Hispanic) 11%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
Two or more races 1.5%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Forresters

5 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Jay Wright Forrester
American operations researcher (1918–2016)
Bill Forrester
American swimmer, Olympic bronze medalist, world champion, former world record-holder, born 1957
Jenna Forrester
Australian swimmer, born 2003
Rhett Forrester
American musician (1956-1994)
Brent Forrester
American writer and producer, born 1967

Notable Forresters come mostly from the United States (4) and Australia (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Forrester

Forrester has the Soundex code F623, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code F623.

Questions

How common is the surname Forrester?: 13,878 people in the United States had the surname Forrester in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 22,247 Americans. It ranked 2,596th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Forrester?: In the 2010 Census, 84% of people named Forrester identified as white (not Hispanic), and 11% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Forrester?: Jay Wright Forrester, American operations researcher (1918–2016), followed by Bill Forrester.
Where is the surname Forrester most common?: Wikidata records people named Forrester in the United States and Australia.
What type of surname is Forrester?: Forrester is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
Is the surname Forrester getting more or less common?: More common. 13,276 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 13,878 in 2010, up 4.5%.