How common is the surname Nigh?

1,913 people in the United States had the surname Nigh in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 161,393 Americans. It ranked 15,328th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Nigh?

In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Nigh identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Nigh?

William Nigh, American film director, writer and actor (1881-1955), followed by George Nigh.

Where is the surname Nigh most common?

Wikidata records people named Nigh in the United States.

Is the surname Nigh getting more or less common?

More common. 1,857 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 1,913 in 2010, up 3.0%.

The surname Nigh

A surname, carried by 1,913 people in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex N200

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Nigh is more common than 90.6% of them.

Origin

* As an English surname, variant of Nye. * As a German surname, probably Americanized from Neu, Ney.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 1,913 people named Nigh in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 161,393 Americans. That is up 3.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 1,857.

#15,328

rank among US surnames

1,913

people in 2010

0.7

per 100,000 Americans

+3%

change since 2000 (was #14,680)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#15,322	Catano	1,915	161,225
#15,325	Irick	1,914	161,309
#15,328	Goudeau	1,913	161,393

Who is named Nigh

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

93% of people named Nigh identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.8% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 93%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
Two or more races 1.8%
Black (not Hispanic) 1.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.9%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Nighs

2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

William Nigh
American film director, writer and actor (1881-1955)
George Nigh
American politician (1927–2025)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Nigh

Nigh has the Soundex code N200, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code N200.

Questions

Where does the surname Nigh come from?: * As an English surname, variant of Nye. * As a German surname, probably Americanized from Neu, Ney.
How common is the surname Nigh?: 1,913 people in the United States had the surname Nigh in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 161,393 Americans. It ranked 15,328th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Nigh?: In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Nigh identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Nigh?: William Nigh, American film director, writer and actor (1881-1955), followed by George Nigh.
Where is the surname Nigh most common?: Wikidata records people named Nigh in the United States.
Is the surname Nigh getting more or less common?: More common. 1,857 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 1,913 in 2010, up 3.0%.