# Hepburn (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/hepburn/  
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 | English |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 3,479 |
| US rank (2010) | 9,350 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 88,745 people |
| Change since 2000 | +5.7% (3,291 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Old English hēa, definite form of hēah (“high”) + byrġen (“tumulus”). The romanization system is named after its inventor, James Curtis Hepburn.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Hepburn 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) | 60% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 34% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.6% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Hepburn in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Scotland and Australia.

## People named Hepburn

- Audrey Hepburn, British actress (1929–1993)
- Katharine Hepburn, American actress (1907–2003)
- James Curtis Hepburn, American physician, educator, and phonologist of Japanese (1815–1911)
- James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, 1st Duke of Orkney and third and final husband of Mary, Queen of Scots (lived 1534-1578)
- Michael Hepburn, Australian racing cyclist

## Similar surnames

Hebron, Heffernan, Haberman, Heffron.

## 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.