# Lancaster (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/lancaster/  
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 English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 32,362 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,080 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 9,540 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.1% (31,686 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈlæn.kæs.tɚ/, 3 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Middle English Lancaster, Loncastre, the name of the Roman fort on the River Lune, from Lune + the Old English suffix ceaster (“town”), found in many placenames.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Lancaster 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) | 84% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 10% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.3% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.7% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Similar surnames

Linkous, Longacre, Lengacher, Longest.

## 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.