# Looney (surname)

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

A surname from Irish.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Irish |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 12,910 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,795 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 23,915 people |
| Change since 2000 | -0.3% (12,955 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Lunney |

## Etymology

Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Luanaigh (“descendant of Luanach”), a personal name based on Middle Irish lúan (“light, warrior's halo, warrior”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Looney 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) | 85% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 9.8% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.8% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.2% |
| Two or more races | 2.0% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Looney in the United States.

## People named Looney

- Kevon Looney, American basketball player (born 1996)

## Similar surnames

Leone, Laney, Loney, Lone, Lowney, Lane, Luna, Leon, Lin, Lam, Lynn, Lim.

## 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.