How common is the surname Milford?

3,140 people in the United States had the surname Milford in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 98,327 Americans. It ranked 10,265th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Milford?

Penelope Milford, American actress, followed by Gene Milford.

Where is the surname Milford most common?

Wikidata records people named Milford in the United States.

How do you pronounce Milford?

Milford is /mɪlfəɹd/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Milford getting more or less common?

Less common. 3,164 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,140 in 2010, down 0.8%.

The surname Milford

A place surname, carried by 3,140 people in the United States.

Pronounced /mɪlfəɹd/ 2 syllables Soundex M416

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Milford is more common than 93.7% of them.

Origin

From mill + ford.

Milford is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 3,140 people named Milford in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 98,327 Americans. That is down 0.8% since 2000, when the Census counted 3,164.

#10,265

rank among US surnames

3,140

people in 2010

1.1

per 100,000 Americans

-0.8%

change since 2000 (was #9,425)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#10,257	Moffat	3,143	98,233
#10,258	Villagrana	3,142	98,264
#10,260	Schoch	3,141	98,295
#10,265	Milford	3,140	98,327
#10,268	Orman	3,139	98,358
#10,274	Mulhern	3,138	98,389

Who is named Milford

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

77% of people named Milford identified as white (not Hispanic), 15% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.9% as American Indian and Alaska Native.

White (not Hispanic) 77%
Black (not Hispanic) 15%
American Indian and Alaska Native 2.9%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
Two or more races 1.8%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Milfords

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Penelope Milford
American actress, 1948–2025
Gene Milford
American film editor (1902-1991)
Kim Milford
American actor, singer-songwriter, and composer (1951-1988)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Milford

Milford has the Soundex code M416, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code M416.

Questions

Where does the surname Milford come from?: From mill + ford.
How common is the surname Milford?: 3,140 people in the United States had the surname Milford in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 98,327 Americans. It ranked 10,265th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Milford?: In the 2010 Census, 77% of people named Milford identified as white (not Hispanic), and 15% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Milford?: Penelope Milford, American actress, followed by Gene Milford.
Where is the surname Milford most common?: Wikidata records people named Milford in the United States.
How do you pronounce Milford?: Milford is /mɪlfəɹd/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Milford?: Milford is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Milford getting more or less common?: Less common. 3,164 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,140 in 2010, down 0.8%.