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Name Lineage

    The surname Oldham

    An English place surname, carried by 12,928 people in the United States.

    Pronounced /ɒldəm/ 2 syllables Soundex O435

    Oldham: #2,792 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Oldham #2,792, 12,928 people Oldham: #2,792 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Oldham #2,792, 12,928 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Oldham is more common than 98.3% of them.

    Origin

    English origin

    Recorded as Aldehulme in the Domesday Book, the English toponym is named with Old English eald (“old”) + Old Norse holmr (“holm, islet”). Or else, the first element may be Old English Alda, a male given name, or the Cumbric/Proto-Brythonic equivalent of Welsh allt (“cliff”).

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

    One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 12,928 people named Oldham in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 23,882 Americans. That is up 1.4% since 2000, when the Census counted 12,753.

    #2,792
    rank among US surnames
    12,928
    people in 2010
    4.4
    per 100,000 Americans
    +1.4%
    change since 2000 (was #2,604)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #2,783Bolin12,96223,819
    #2,784Fuchs12,95823,827
    #2,785Radford12,95623,830
    #2,786Foy12,95223,838
    #2,788Lipscomb12,94823,845
    #2,789Carreon12,94123,858
    #2,790Pease12,93723,865

    Who is named Oldham

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

    86% of people named Oldham identified as white (not Hispanic), 8.9% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 86%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 8.9%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
    • Two or more races 1.8%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Oldhams

    6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Will Oldham
      American singer-songwriter and actor, born 1970
    • Jawann Oldham
      American basketball player (1957–2026)
    • William Kavanaugh Oldham
      American politician (1865-1938)
    • Spooner Oldham
      American songwriter and session musician, born 1943
    • Thomas Oldham
      Anglo-Irish geologist, director of the Indian Geological Survey (1850-1876)
    • Joyce Appleby
      American historian (1929-2016)

    Notable Oldhams come mostly from the United States (5) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1).

    Other English surnames

    All 1,446 English surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Oldham come from?
    Recorded as Aldehulme in the Domesday Book, the English toponym is named with Old English eald (“old”) + Old Norse holmr (“holm, islet”). Or else, the first element may be Old English Alda, a male given name, or the Cumbric/Proto-Brythonic equivalent of Welsh allt (“cliff”).
    How common is the surname Oldham?
    12,928 people in the United States had the surname Oldham in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 23,882 Americans. It ranked 2,792nd of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Oldham?
    In the 2010 Census, 86% of people named Oldham identified as white (not Hispanic), and 8.9% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Oldham?
    Will Oldham, American singer-songwriter and actor, followed by Jawann Oldham.
    Where is the surname Oldham most common?
    Wikidata records people named Oldham in the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
    How do you pronounce Oldham?
    Oldham is /ɒldəm/, 2 syllables.
    What type of surname is Oldham?
    Oldham is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
    Is the surname Oldham getting more or less common?
    More common. 12,753 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 12,928 in 2010, up 1.4%.