The surname Houston
An English place surname, carried by 56,900 people in the United States.
Pronounced /ˈhjustən/ 2 syllables Soundex H235 Also a first name
Origin
English origin
Originally from a place near Glasgow, from the Middle English equivalent of "Hugh's town". Analyzable as Hugh + -s- + -ton
Houston is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.
Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How common it is
2010 US Census
There were 56,900 people named Houston in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 5,426 Americans. That is up 5.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 54,026.
Who is named Houston
Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census
52% of people named Houston identified as white (not Hispanic), 41% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.8% as two or more races.
- White (not Hispanic) 52%
- Black (not Hispanic) 41%
- Two or more races 2.8%
- Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.5%
- American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%
- Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%
Famous Houstons
26 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first
- Whitney HoustonAmerican singer, actress, and film producer (1963–2012)
- Sam HoustonAmerican statesman, politician, and soldier (1793-1863)
- Cissy HoustonAmerican singer (1933–2024)
- Allan HoustonAmerican basketball player (born 1971)
- Thelma HoustonAmerican singer (born 1946)
- Drew HoustonAmerican Internet entrepreneur, born 1983
- Marques HoustonAmerican actor, singer and dancer, born 1981
- George S. HoustonAmerican politician, Alabama (1811-1879)
- David Franklin HoustonAmerican academic, businessman and politician (1866-1940)
- Edwin J. HoustonAmerican businessman (1847-1914)
- Andrew Jackson HoustonAmerican politician (1854-1941)
- Byron HoustonAmerican basketball player (born 1969)
Notable Houstons come mostly from the United States (24), Brazil (1) and the United Kingdom (1).
Spellings and sound-alikes
Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling
Variant spellings
- Hoston
- Houstoun
- Hughesdon
Houston has the Soundex code H235, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code H235.
Other English surnames
Questions
- Where does the surname Houston come from?
- Originally from a place near Glasgow, from the Middle English equivalent of "Hugh's town". Analyzable as Hugh + -s- + -ton
- How common is the surname Houston?
- 56,900 people in the United States had the surname Houston in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 5,426 Americans. It ranked 592nd of 162,253 surnames.
- What ethnicity is the surname Houston?
- In the 2010 Census, 52% of people named Houston identified as white (not Hispanic), and 41% as Black (not Hispanic).
- Who is the most famous person named Houston?
- Whitney Houston, American singer, actress, and film producer (1963–2012), followed by Sam Houston.
- Where is the surname Houston most common?
- Wikidata records people named Houston in the United States, Brazil and the United Kingdom.
- How do you pronounce Houston?
- Houston is /ˈhjustən/, 2 syllables.
- What type of surname is Houston?
- Houston is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
- Is the surname Houston getting more or less common?
- More common. 54,026 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 56,900 in 2010, up 5.3%.
- What are other spellings of Houston?
- Hoston, Houstoun and Hughesdon.
- Is Houston also a first name?
- Yes. Houston is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.