# Lamar (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/lamar/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A habitational surname from Old French.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | French |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 11,733 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,057 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 26,314 people |
| Change since 2000 | +6.4% (11,030 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ləˈmɑː(ɹ)/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From a placename in Normandy, which was derived from Old French la mare (“the pool”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Lamar 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) | 51% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 39% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 5.8% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.9% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 2.6% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Lamar in the United States and Republic of Texas.

## People named Lamar

- Mirabeau B. Lamar, American politician (1798–1859)
- Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, American lawyer, politician and judge (1825-1893)
- Bo Lamar, American basketball player (born 1951)
- Joseph Rucker Lamar, American Supreme Court Justice (1857-1916)

## Similar surnames

Lamere, Lamarre, Lamarr, Lamour, Lemar, Lanier, Lenoir, Lemire, Lehner, Lemaire, Liner, Lemmer.

## 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.