How common is the surname Head?

27,292 people in the United States had the surname Head in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 11,313 Americans. It ranked 1,285th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Head?

Edith Head, American film and television costumer (1897-1981), followed by Murray Head.

Where is the surname Head most common?

Wikidata records people named Head in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Is the surname Head getting more or less common?

More common. 27,218 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 27,292 in 2010, up 0.3%.

The surname Head

A surname, carried by 27,292 people in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex H300

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Head is more common than 99.2% of them.

Origin

A surname from Middle English, from residence near a hilltop or the head of a river, or a byname for someone with an odd-looking head.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 27,292 people named Head in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 11,313 Americans. That is about the same as in 2000, when the Census counted 27,218.

#1,285

rank among US surnames

27,292

people in 2010

9.3

per 100,000 Americans

+0.3%

change since 2000 (was #1,180)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,276	Sykes	27,546	11,208
#1,277	Manuel	27,529	11,215
#1,278	Burks	27,523	11,218
#1,279	Chin	27,487	11,232
#1,280	Quiroz	27,452	11,247
#1,281	Hopper	27,353	11,287
#1,282	McGill	27,330	11,297

Who is named Head

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

78% of people named Head identified as white (not Hispanic), 17% as Black (not Hispanic) and 1.9% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 78%
Black (not Hispanic) 17%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.9%
Two or more races 1.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.8%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Heads

11 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Edith Head
American film and television costumer (1897-1981)
Murray Head
British actor and singer, born 1946
Daisy Head
British actress, born 1991
Travis Head
Australian cricketer, born 1993
Luther Head
American basketball player (born 1982)
Jae Head
American child actor, born 1996
Emily Head
British actress, born 1988
Dena Head
American basketball player (born 1970)
Sir Edmund Walker Head, 8th Baronet
British colonial administrator (1805–1868)
Pat Summitt
American basketball player and coach (1952–2016)
Wayne Carson
American singer-songwriter, 1943–2015

Notable Heads come mostly from the United States (6), the United Kingdom (4) and Australia (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Head

Head has the Soundex code H300, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code H300.

Questions

How common is the surname Head?: 27,292 people in the United States had the surname Head in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 11,313 Americans. It ranked 1,285th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Head?: In the 2010 Census, 78% of people named Head identified as white (not Hispanic), and 17% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Head?: Edith Head, American film and television costumer (1897-1981), followed by Murray Head.
Where is the surname Head most common?: Wikidata records people named Head in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Is the surname Head getting more or less common?: More common. 27,218 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 27,292 in 2010, up 0.3%.