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Name Lineage

    The surname Ham

    A surname, carried by 16,980 people in the United States.

    Pronounced /hæm/ 1 syllable Soundex H500

    Ham: #2,133 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Ham #2,133, 16,980 people Ham: #2,133 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Ham #2,133, 16,980 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Ham is more common than 98.7% of them.

    Origin

    * 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.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 16,980 people named Ham in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 18,183 Americans. That is up 7.2% since 2000, when the Census counted 15,843.

    #2,133
    rank among US surnames
    16,980
    people in 2010
    5.8
    per 100,000 Americans
    +7.2%
    change since 2000 (was #2,103)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #2,125Flood17,05318,105
    #2,127Read17,04818,110
    #2,128Hobson17,04318,116
    #2,129Bustos17,04018,119
    #2,130Benedict17,03618,123
    #2,131Vandyke17,03018,130
    #2,132Troyer16,98118,182

    Who is named Ham

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

    66% of people named Ham identified as white (not Hispanic), 16% as Asian and Pacific Islander and 12% as Black (not Hispanic).

    • White (not Hispanic) 66%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 16%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 12%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.7%
    • Two or more races 1.7%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Hams

    4 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Darvin Ham
      American basketball player and coach, born 1973
    • Ken Ham
      Australian young Earth creationist, born 1951
    • Jack Ham
      American football player, born 1948
    • Mary Katharine Ham
      American journalist and author (born 1980)

    Notable Hams come mostly from the United States (3) and Australia (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Ham

    Ham has the Soundex code H500, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code H500.

    Questions

    Where does the surname Ham come from?
    * 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),…
    How common is the surname Ham?
    16,980 people in the United States had the surname Ham in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 18,183 Americans. It ranked 2,133rd of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Ham?
    In the 2010 Census, 66% of people named Ham identified as white (not Hispanic), and 16% as Asian and Pacific Islander.
    Who is the most famous person named Ham?
    Darvin Ham, American basketball player and coach, followed by Ken Ham.
    Where is the surname Ham most common?
    Wikidata records people named Ham in the United States and Australia.
    How do you pronounce Ham?
    Ham is /hæm/, one syllable.
    Is the surname Ham getting more or less common?
    More common. 15,843 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 16,980 in 2010, up 7.2%.