# Ham (surname)

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

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 16,980 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,133 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 18,183 people |
| Change since 2000 | +7.2% (15,843 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /hæm/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an English and German surname, variant of Hamm. * As a Dutch surname, from the noun ham (“bend in a river”). Compare Van Ham, Vanderham. * As a French surname, from several placenames, from the Frankish source of the Dutch word above. * As a Serbo-Croatian, Slovak and Hungarian surname (Hám), from the noun hám (“harness”), and sometimes from the German sense above. * As a Slovene surname, possibly from the "harness" or German senses above, or from ham (“grab, bite”). * As a Czech surname, shortened from Abraham. * As a Korean surname, from the name 함 (ham) (more at Ham). Compare Hahm. * As a Chinese surname, from several names such as 咸 (xián) (see Xian), 闞 /阚 (see Kan), 范 (fàn) (see fan), 譚 /谭 (tán) (see Tan), and possibly 涵 (hán, “contain”). * In some English surnames, from Old English hām, probably reduced from a name using it as a suffix -ham.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Ham 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) | 66% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 12% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 16% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4% |
| Two or more races | 1.7% |

## Where

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

## People named Ham

- Darvin Ham, American basketball player and coach
- Ken Ham, Australian young Earth creationist
- Jack Ham, American football player
- Mary Katharine Ham, American journalist and author (born 1980)

## Similar surnames

Hamm, Hahm, Hamme, Han, Huynh, Hahn, Hanna, Haney, Hannah, Heim, Hein, Hume.

## 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.