# Poe (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/poe/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Old Norse

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Norse |
| Type | nickname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 23,563 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,522 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 13,103 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.1% (22,865 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /poʊ/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | Pow |

## Etymology

A nickname from Old Norse pái (“peacock”). This surname is also well established in Ireland.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Poe in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 80% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 13% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 2.3% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Poe in the United States.

## People named Poe

- Edgar Allan Poe, American writer and literary critic (1809–1849)
- Ted Poe, American politician
- Richard Poe, American actor
- James Poe, American film and television screenwriter (1921-1980)
- Amos Poe, American film director
- William Henry Leonard Poe, American sailor and poet (c. 1807 - 1831)

## Similar surnames

Pou, Po, Pow, Powe, Pye, Peay, Phu, Paw, Pai, Pfau, Pew, Pu.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.