# Hampton (surname)

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

An English habitational surname from Old English from the placenames.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 69,472 |
| US rank (2010) | 482 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 4,444 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.7% (66,378 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈhæmp.tən/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Hanton |

## Etymology

Variously from: * Old English Hāmtūn, from hām and tūn (equivalent to home + town); * Old English hēantūn, from hēah and tūn (equivalent to high + town). The town in New Brunswick may have been named after one of several towns in New England. The civil parish is named after the town.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Hampton 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) | 54% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 40% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.4% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.7% |
| Two or more races | 2.7% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Hampton in the United States and Rwanda.

## People named Hampton

- Lionel Hampton, American jazz musician (1908–2002)
- Fred Hampton, African-American activist (1948-1969)
- Jamie Hampton, American female tennis player
- Millard Hampton, Athletics competitor, sprinter
- Wade Hampton III, American politician (1818-1902)
- Slide Hampton, American trombonist (1932–2021)
- R. J. Hampton, American basketball player (born 2001)
- Shanola Hampton, American actress
- Hope Hampton, American actress (1897-1982)
- James Hampton, American actor, television director, and screenwriter (1936–2021)
- Bruce Hampton, American musician (1947–2017)
- Mike Hampton, American professional baseball player, pitcher

and 7 more on Wikidata.

## 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.