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    The surname O'Neal

    An Irish surname, carried by 47,979 people in the United States.

    2 syllables Soundex O540

    O'Neal: #729 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon O'Neal #729, 47,979 people O'Neal: #729 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez O'Neal #729, 47,979 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). O'Neal is more common than 99.6% of them.

    Origin

    Irish origin

    A surname from Irish, variant of O'Neill.

    One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 47,979 people named O'Neal in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 6,435 Americans. That is up 3.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 46,161.

    #729
    rank among US surnames
    47,979
    people in 2010
    16
    per 100,000 Americans
    +3.9%
    change since 2000 (was #680)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #720Ahmed48,3196,390
    #721Beard48,2076,405
    #722McClain48,1656,410
    #723Montes48,1426,413
    #724Mata48,1206,416
    #725Rosario48,0516,425
    #726Vang48,0366,427

    Who is named O'Neal

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

    65% of people named O'Neal identified as white (not Hispanic), 29% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.6% as two or more races.

    • White (not Hispanic) 65%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 29%
    • Two or more races 2.6%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.5%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous O'Neals

    16 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Shaquille O'Neal
      American basketball player (born 1972)
    • Ryan O'Neal
      American actor (1941–2023)
    • Tatum O'Neal
      American actress (born 1963)
    • Jermaine O'Neal
      American basketball player (born 1978)
    • Patrice O'Neal
      American stand-up comedian, radio personality, and actor (1969-2011)
    • Patrick O'Neal
      American actor (1927-1994)
    • Alexander O'Neal
      American musical artist, born 1953
    • Ron O'Neal
      American actor (1937-2004)
    • Emmet O'Neal
      American politician (1853-1922)
    • Chris O'Neal
      American actor, singer and composer, born 1994
    • Amber O'Neal
      American professional wrestler, born 1974
    • Rose O'Neal Greenhow
      American spy (1814–1864)

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like O'Neal

    O'Neal has the Soundex code O540, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code O540.

    Other Irish surnames

    All 880 Irish surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname O'Neal come from?
    O'Neal is Irish in origin.
    How common is the surname O'Neal?
    47,979 people in the United States had the surname O'Neal in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 6,435 Americans. It ranked 729th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname O'Neal?
    In the 2010 Census, 65% of people named O'Neal identified as white (not Hispanic), and 29% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named O'Neal?
    Shaquille O'Neal, American basketball player (born 1972), followed by Ryan O'Neal.
    Where is the surname O'Neal most common?
    Wikidata records people named O'Neal in the United States.
    Is the surname O'Neal getting more or less common?
    More common. 46,161 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 47,979 in 2010, up 3.9%.