The surname Fortune
A Portuguese surname, carried by 11,748 people in the United States.
Pronounced /ˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃən/ 2 syllables Soundex F635
Origin
Portuguese origin
The name of the town in Newfoundland is derived from Portuguese fortuna (“luck, fortune”). The name may refer to a fortuitous event that occurred in the nearby bay.
One of 71 Portuguese surnames on this site.
Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How common it is
2010 US Census
There were 11,748 people named Fortune in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 26,281 Americans. That is up 6.6% since 2000, when the Census counted 11,016.
Who is named Fortune
Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census
57% of people named Fortune identified as white (not Hispanic), 37% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.5% as two or more races.
- White (not Hispanic) 57%
- Black (not Hispanic) 37%
- Two or more races 2.5%
- Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
- American Indian and Alaska Native 0.9%
- Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
Famous Fortunes
5 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first
- Robert FortuneBritish botanist, 1812–1880
- Sonny FortuneAmerican saxophonist (1939–2018)
- Frederick FortuneBobsledder (1921-1994)
- Timothy Thomas FortuneAmerican writer, activist (1856–1928)
- Victor FortuneBritish Army general (1883-1949)
Notable Fortunes come mostly from the United States (3) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (2).
Spellings and sound-alikes
Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling
Fortune has the Soundex code F635, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code F635.
Other Portuguese surnames
Questions
- Where does the surname Fortune come from?
- The name of the town in Newfoundland is derived from Portuguese fortuna (“luck, fortune”). The name may refer to a fortuitous event that occurred in the nearby bay.
- How common is the surname Fortune?
- 11,748 people in the United States had the surname Fortune in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 26,281 Americans. It ranked 3,051st of 162,253 surnames.
- What ethnicity is the surname Fortune?
- In the 2010 Census, 57% of people named Fortune identified as white (not Hispanic), and 37% as Black (not Hispanic).
- Who is the most famous person named Fortune?
- Robert Fortune, British botanist, followed by Sonny Fortune.
- Where is the surname Fortune most common?
- Wikidata records people named Fortune in the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
- How do you pronounce Fortune?
- Fortune is /ˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃən/, 2 syllables.
- Is the surname Fortune getting more or less common?
- More common. 11,016 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 11,748 in 2010, up 6.6%.