# Lance (surname)

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

A surname originating as a patronymic.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 13,122 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,747 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 23,529 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.3% (12,700 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /læns/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

The surname is derived from a medieval given name Lanzo, short form of names beginning with the Germanic element *land; see land. Doublet of Lanzo.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Lance 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) | 86% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 7.9% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.9% |
| Two or more races | 1.7% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Lance in the United States and the United Kingdom.

## People named Lance

- Keisha Lance Bottoms, American politician (born 1970)
- Leonard Lance, American politician
- James Lance, British actor
- Trey Lance, American football player (born 2000)

## Similar surnames

Llanes, Lainez, Lanz, Lang, Lange, Long, Lynch, Lyons, Lemus, Liang, Link, Leung.

## 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.