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The surnameGreen

A place surname, the 41st most common in the United States.

Pronounced /ɡɹiːn/ 1 syllable Soundex G650

Green: #41 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Green #41, 430,182 people Green: #41 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#1,000Archer Green #41, 430,182 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Green is more common than 99.9% of them.

Origin

English surname, a topographic name for someone who either lived near a village green, or was just fond of the colour. This name is also translated from other surnames, such as German Grün and Gruen, Dutch Groen, Irish Ó hUainí (from uaine, see Honan), etc. The Irish surname was also erroneously translated from Ó Fathaidh, Ó Fathaigh, from faithche (“lawn”).

Green is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 430,182 people named Green in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 718 Americans. That is up 4.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 413,477.

#41
rank among US surnames
430,182
people in 2010
146
per 100,000 Americans
+4%
change since 2000 (was #37)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#32Young484,447637
#33Allen482,607640
#34King465,422663
#35Wright458,980673
#36Scott439,530702
#37Torres437,813705
#38Nguyen437,645705

Who is named Green

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

57% of people named Green identified as white (not Hispanic), 37% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

  • White (not Hispanic) 57%
  • Black (not Hispanic) 37%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.6%
  • Two or more races 2.5%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Greens

143 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • John Green
    American author and vlogger, born 1977
  • CeeLo Green
    American singer, songwriter, rapper, actor and record producer, born 1975
  • Seth Green
    American actor, born 1974
  • Julien Green
    American author (1900–1998)
  • Peter Green
    British blues rock guitarist (1946–2020)
  • Draymond Green
    American basketball player (born 1990)
  • Peter Greene
    American actor (1959–2025)
  • Brian Austin Green
    American actor, born 1973
  • Al Green
    American singer, born 1946
  • Julian Green
    American soccer player, born 1995
  • Jeff Green
    American basketball player (born 1986)
  • Danny Green
    American basketball player (born 1987)

Notable Greens come mostly from the United States (107), Australia (18) and the United Kingdom (10).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Surnames that sound like Green

Green 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 Green come from?
English surname, a topographic name for someone who either lived near a village green, or was just fond of the colour. This name is also translated from other surnames, such as German Grün and Gruen, Dutch Groen, Irish Ó hUainí (from uaine, see Honan), etc. The Irish surname was also erroneously…
How common is the surname Green?
430,182 people in the United States had the surname Green in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 718 Americans. It ranked 41st of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Green?
In the 2010 Census, 57% of people named Green identified as white (not Hispanic), and 37% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Green?
John Green, American author and vlogger, followed by CeeLo Green.