# Means (surname)

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

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | French |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 16,203 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,247 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 19,055 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.5% (15,808 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Various origins: * Reduced form of McMeans, a surname of Irish origin. * Habitational surname from the villages of East and West Meon, in Hampshire. * A nickname from Middle English mene (“inferior in rank”), which is from Old English ġemǣne (“common, general”), or Middle English mene (“moderate in behaviour”), which is from Old French mëen, mean.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Means 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) | 64% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 29% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.6% |
| Two or more races | 2.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Means in the United States.

## People named Means

- Tatanka Means, American actor
- Rice W. Means, American Politician and Ku Klux Klan member (1877-1949)
- Casey Means, American physician and author (born 1987)

## Similar surnames

Maness, Manns, Manis, Mensah, Maines, Mains, Manes, Manos, Manus, Maynes, Menz, Mans.

## 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.