How common is the surname Poe?

23,563 people in the United States had the surname Poe in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 13,103 Americans. It ranked 1,522nd of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Poe?

In the 2010 Census, 80% of people named Poe identified as white (not Hispanic), and 13% as Black (not Hispanic).

Who is the most famous person named Poe?

Edgar Allan Poe, American writer and literary critic (1809–1849), followed by Ted Poe.

Where is the surname Poe most common?

Wikidata records people named Poe in the United States.

Is the surname Poe getting more or less common?

More common. 22,865 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 23,563 in 2010, up 3.1%.

The surname Poe

A Norse nickname surname, carried by 23,563 people in the United States.

Pronounced /poʊ/ 1 syllable Soundex P000

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Poe is more common than 99.1% of them.

Origin

Norse origin

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

Poe is a nickname surname: from a description or nickname of an ancestor.

One of 126 Norse surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 23,563 people named Poe in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 13,103 Americans. That is up 3.1% since 2000, when the Census counted 22,865.

#1,522

rank among US surnames

23,563

people in 2010

8.0

per 100,000 Americans

+3.1%

change since 2000 (was #1,433)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,513	Drew	23,722	13,015
#1,514	Bowles	23,713	13,020
#1,515	Payton	23,670	13,044
#1,516	Chappell	23,634	13,064
#1,517	Amos	23,621	13,071
#1,518	Hagen	23,616	13,074
#1,519	Phipps	23,610	13,077

Who is named Poe

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

80% of people named Poe identified as white (not Hispanic), 13% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.3% as Asian and Pacific Islander.

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

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Poes

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Edgar Allan Poe
American writer and literary critic (1809–1849)
Ted Poe
American politician, born 1948
Richard Poe
American actor, born 1946
James Poe
American film and television screenwriter (1921-1980)
Amos Poe
American film director, 1949–2025
William Henry Leonard Poe
American sailor and poet (c. 1807 - 1831)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Surnames that sound like Poe

Poe has the Soundex code P000, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code P000.

Other Norse surnames

All 126 Norse surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Poe come from?: A nickname from Old Norse pái (“peacock”). This surname is also well established in Ireland.
How common is the surname Poe?: 23,563 people in the United States had the surname Poe in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 13,103 Americans. It ranked 1,522nd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Poe?: In the 2010 Census, 80% of people named Poe identified as white (not Hispanic), and 13% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Poe?: Edgar Allan Poe, American writer and literary critic (1809–1849), followed by Ted Poe.
Where is the surname Poe most common?: Wikidata records people named Poe in the United States.
How do you pronounce Poe?: Poe is /poʊ/, one syllable.
What type of surname is Poe?: Poe is a nickname surname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor.
Is the surname Poe getting more or less common?: More common. 22,865 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 23,563 in 2010, up 3.1%.
What are other spellings of Poe?: Pow.