The surname Meredith
A Welsh patronymic surname, carried by 24,679 people in the United States.
Pronounced /məˈɹɛdɪθ/ 3 syllables Soundex M633 Also a first name
Origin
Welsh origin
From Welsh Maredudd (“great lord”).
Meredith is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
One of 60 Welsh surnames on this site.
Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How common it is
2010 US Census
There were 24,679 people named Meredith in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 12,510 Americans. That is up 3.1% since 2000, when the Census counted 23,937.
Who is named Meredith
Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census
84% of people named Meredith identified as white (not Hispanic), 11% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
- White (not Hispanic) 84%
- Black (not Hispanic) 11%
- Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
- Two or more races 1.8%
- Asian and Pacific Islander 0.9%
- American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%
Famous Merediths
17 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first
- Burgess MeredithAmerican actor (1907–1997)
- Ted MeredithAmerican athletics competitor (1891–1957)
- James MeredithAustralian association football player (born 1988)
- James MeredithAmerican political activist & writer (1933-)
- Louisa Anne MeredithBritish-Australian writer and illustrator (1812–1895)
- William M. MeredithAmerican politician, lawyer (1799-1873)
- Richard MeredithAmerican ice hockey player (1932–2025)
- Rowena MeredithAustralian rower, born 1995
- Charles MeredithAmerican actor (1894-1964)
- Joan MeredithAmerican actress (1907-1980)
- Don MeredithAmerican football player, television sportscaster (1938–2010)
- Ariel MeredithAmerican model, born 1986
Notable Merediths come mostly from the United States (13), Australia (3) and the United Kingdom (1).
Spellings and sound-alikes
Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling
Variant spellings
- Merrihew
Surnames that sound like Meredith
Meredith has the Soundex code M633, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code M633.
Other Welsh surnames
Questions
- Where does the surname Meredith come from?
- From Welsh Maredudd (“great lord”).
- How common is the surname Meredith?
- 24,679 people in the United States had the surname Meredith in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 12,510 Americans. It ranked 1,445th of 162,253 surnames.
- What ethnicity is the surname Meredith?
- In the 2010 Census, 84% of people named Meredith identified as white (not Hispanic), and 11% as Black (not Hispanic).
- Who is the most famous person named Meredith?
- Burgess Meredith, American actor (1907–1997), followed by Ted Meredith.
- Where is the surname Meredith most common?
- Wikidata records people named Meredith in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.
- How do you pronounce Meredith?
- Meredith is /məˈɹɛdɪθ/, 3 syllables.
- What type of surname is Meredith?
- Meredith is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
- Is the surname Meredith getting more or less common?
- More common. 23,937 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 24,679 in 2010, up 3.1%.
- What are other spellings of Meredith?
- Merrihew.
- Is Meredith also a first name?
- Yes. Meredith is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.