# Gates (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/gates/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A topographic surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 52,569 |
| US rank (2010) | 648 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 5,873 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.6% (50,748 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ɡeɪts/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From gate. A topographic name for someone who lived by the gates of a medieval walled town.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Gates 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) | 75% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 19% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Gates in the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain.

## People named Gates

- Bill Gates, American businessman, investor, and philanthropist (born 1955)
- Melinda Gates, American philanthropist
- Synyster Gates, American guitarist
- Horatio Gates, American general in the American Revolutionary War (1727–1806)
- Henry Louis Gates, Jr., American literary critic, professor and historian (born 1950)
- Bill Gates Sr., American attorney and philanthropist (1925–2020)
- David Gates, American musician
- Nancy Gates, American actress (1926-2019)
- Thomas S. Gates, Jr., American diplomat (1906-1983)
- Sylvester James Gates, American physicist
- Greg Gates, American rower (1926–2020)
- Larry Gates, American actor (1915–1996)

and 7 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Gattis, Gatz, Gattuso, Goetz, Gaddis, Getz, Godsey, Geddes, Gutowski, Gatica, Gaydos, Goetsch.

## 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.