How common is the surname Graham?

201,159 people in the United States had the surname Graham in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 1,535 Americans. It ranked 120th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Graham?

Billy Graham, American Baptist evangelist (1918–2018), followed by Heather Graham.

Where is the surname Graham most common?

Wikidata records people named Graham in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom and 3 other countries.

How do you pronounce Graham?

Graham is /ɡɹæm/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Graham getting more or less common?

More common. 194,074 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 201,159 in 2010, up 3.7%.

Is Graham also a first name?

Yes. Graham is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Graham

A surname, carried by 201,159 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ɡɹæm/ 2 syllables Soundex G650 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Graham is more common than 99.9% of them.

Origin

The surname derives from Gra(nt)ham, the name of a place in Lincolnshire, from Old English *grand (“gravel”) + hām (“homestead”).

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 201,159 people named Graham in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 1,535 Americans. That is up 3.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 194,074.

#120

rank among US surnames

201,159

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+3.7%

change since 2000 (was #108)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#111	Gonzales	214,758	1,438
#112	Fisher	214,703	1,438
#113	Vasquez	212,781	1,451
#114	Simmons	210,182	1,469
#115	Romero	208,614	1,480
#116	Jordan	208,403	1,481
#117	Patterson	205,423	1,503

Who is named Graham

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

70% of people named Graham identified as white (not Hispanic), 24% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 70%
Black (not Hispanic) 24%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.5%
Two or more races 2.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.8%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Grahams

73 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Billy Graham
American Baptist evangelist (1918–2018)
Heather Graham
American actress, born 1970
Martha Graham
American dancer and choreographer (1894–1991)
Lauren Graham
American actress, producer and novelist, born 1967
Kat Graham
American actress and singer (born 1989)
Katharine Graham
American publisher, editor and author, 1917–2001
Thomas Graham
British chemist (1805–1869)
Benjamin Graham
American economist and investor (1894-1976)
Ashley Graham
American model, born 1987
William Graham Sumner
American sociologist (1840–1910)
Fiona Graham
Australian anthropologist, geisha (1961–2023)
Ronald Graham
American mathematician (1935-2020)

Notable Grahams come mostly from the United States (56), Australia (7) and the United Kingdom (5).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Graeme
Grahame

Surnames that sound like Graham

Graham has the Soundex code G650, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code G650.

Questions

Where does the surname Graham come from?: The surname derives from Gra(nt)ham, the name of a place in Lincolnshire, from Old English *grand (“gravel”) + hām (“homestead”).
How common is the surname Graham?: 201,159 people in the United States had the surname Graham in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 1,535 Americans. It ranked 120th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Graham?: In the 2010 Census, 70% of people named Graham identified as white (not Hispanic), and 24% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Graham?: Billy Graham, American Baptist evangelist (1918–2018), followed by Heather Graham.
Where is the surname Graham most common?: Wikidata records people named Graham in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom and 3 other countries.
How do you pronounce Graham?: Graham is /ɡɹæm/, 2 syllables.
Is the surname Graham getting more or less common?: More common. 194,074 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 201,159 in 2010, up 3.7%.
What are other spellings of Graham?: Graeme and Grahame.
Is Graham also a first name?: Yes. Graham is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.