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Name Lineage

    The surname Lam

    A Chinese surname, carried by 55,554 people in the United States.

    Pronounced /læm/ 1 syllable Soundex L500

    Lam: #611 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Lam #611, 55,554 people Lam: #611 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott Lam #611, 55,554 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Lam is more common than 99.6% of them.

    Origin

    Chinese origin

    Borrowed from Cantonese 林 (lam4) or Cantonese 藍／蓝 (lam4). Doublet of Lin and Lim.

    One of 193 Chinese surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 55,554 people named Lam in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 5,558 Americans. That is up 25% since 2000, when the Census counted 44,385.

    #611
    rank among US surnames
    55,554
    people in 2010
    19
    per 100,000 Americans
    +25.2%
    change since 2000 (was #706)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #602Wilcox56,2865,485
    #603Melendez56,2305,491
    #604Poole56,2265,491
    #605Roberson56,1805,496
    #606Larsen55,9605,517
    #607Conley55,9175,521
    #608Davenport55,8955,524

    Who is named Lam

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

    88% of people named Lam identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 6.8% as white (not Hispanic) and 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • Asian and Pacific Islander 88%
    • White (not Hispanic) 6.8%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.6%
    • Two or more races 2.0%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 0.6%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.1%

    Compare: most common surnames among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

    Famous Lams

    1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Herman Johannes Lam
      Botanist (1892-1977)

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Lam

    Lam has the Soundex code L500, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code L500.

    Other Chinese surnames

    All 193 Chinese surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Lam come from?
    Borrowed from Cantonese 林 (lam4) or Cantonese 藍／蓝 (lam4). Doublet of Lin and Lim.
    How common is the surname Lam?
    55,554 people in the United States had the surname Lam in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 5,558 Americans. It ranked 611th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Lam?
    In the 2010 Census, 88% of people named Lam identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 6.8% as white (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Lam?
    Herman Johannes Lam, botanist (1892-1977).
    Where is the surname Lam most common?
    Wikidata records people named Lam in Kingdom of the Netherlands.
    How do you pronounce Lam?
    Lam is /læm/, one syllable.
    Is the surname Lam getting more or less common?
    More common. 44,385 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 55,554 in 2010, up 25%.