How common is the surname Moten?

4,734 people in the United States had the surname Moten in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 65,219 Americans. It ranked 7,071st of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Moten?

Bennie Moten, American musician (1894–1935), followed by Aaron Moten.

Where is the surname Moten most common?

Wikidata records people named Moten in the United States.

Is the surname Moten getting more or less common?

More common. 4,088 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,734 in 2010, up 16%.

The surname Moten

A surname, carried by 4,734 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex M350

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Moten is more common than 95.6% of them.

Origin

A surname.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 4,734 people named Moten in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 65,219 Americans. That is up 16% since 2000, when the Census counted 4,088.

#7,071

rank among US surnames

4,734

people in 2010

1.6

per 100,000 Americans

+15.8%

change since 2000 (was #7,512)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#7,066	Shilling	4,738	65,164
#7,068	Millen	4,737	65,177
#7,069	Voelker	4,735	65,205
#7,071	Westover	4,734	65,219
#7,073	Freitag	4,733	65,233
#7,074	Maynor	4,732	65,246
#7,075	Desilva	4,731	65,260

Who is named Moten

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

80% of people named Moten identified as Black (not Hispanic), 9.7% as white (not Hispanic) and 4.3% as two or more races.

Black (not Hispanic) 80%
White (not Hispanic) 9.7%
Two or more races 4.3%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.0%
Asian and Pacific Islander 2.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among Black Americans.

Famous Motens

5 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Bennie Moten
American musician (1894–1935)
Aaron Moten
American actor (born 1989)
Etta Moten Barnett
American singer, actress, and activist (1901–2004)
Lawrence Moten
American basketball player (1972–2025)
Fred Moten
American poet and scholar, born 1962

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Moten

Moten has the Soundex code M350, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code M350.

Questions

How common is the surname Moten?: 4,734 people in the United States had the surname Moten in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 65,219 Americans. It ranked 7,071st of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Moten?: In the 2010 Census, 80% of people named Moten identified as Black (not Hispanic), and 9.7% as white (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Moten?: Bennie Moten, American musician (1894–1935), followed by Aaron Moten.
Where is the surname Moten most common?: Wikidata records people named Moten in the United States.
Is the surname Moten getting more or less common?: More common. 4,088 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,734 in 2010, up 16%.