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Name Lineage

    The surname Kidney

    An Irish patronymic surname, carried by 1,250 people in the United States.

    2 syllables Soundex K350

    Kidney: #21,034 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer Kidney #21,034, 1,250 people Kidney: #21,034 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Kidney #21,034, 1,250 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Kidney is more common than 87% of them.

    Origin

    Irish origin

    From a mistranslation of Irish Ó Dubháin (“descendant of Dubhán”) (directly rendered in English as Duane), a personal name from a diminutive of dubh (“black”). This was confused with dubhán (“kidney”), which in fact is a derivative of dubh (“black”).

    Kidney is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

    One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 1,250 people named Kidney in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 246,996 Americans. That is up 4.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 1,192.

    #21,034
    rank among US surnames
    1,250
    people in 2010
    0.4
    per 100,000 Americans
    +4.9%
    change since 2000 (was #20,642)

    Who is named Kidney

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

    95% of people named Kidney identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.4% as Black (not Hispanic).

    • White (not Hispanic) 95%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 1.4%
    • Two or more races 0.9%
    The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Asian & Pacific Islander, Native American are not shown.

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Kidney

    Kidney has the Soundex code K350, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code K350.

    Other Irish surnames

    All 880 Irish surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Kidney come from?
    From a mistranslation of Irish Ó Dubháin (“descendant of Dubhán”) (directly rendered in English as Duane), a personal name from a diminutive of dubh (“black”). This was confused with dubhán (“kidney”), which in fact is a derivative of dubh (“black”).
    How common is the surname Kidney?
    1,250 people in the United States had the surname Kidney in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 246,996 Americans. It ranked 21,034th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Kidney?
    In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Kidney identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
    What type of surname is Kidney?
    Kidney is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
    Is the surname Kidney getting more or less common?
    More common. 1,192 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 1,250 in 2010, up 4.9%.