How common is the surname Pointer?

7,453 people in the United States had the surname Pointer in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 41,426 Americans. It ranked 4,752nd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Pointer?

Priscilla Pointer, American actress (1924–2025), followed by Bonnie Pointer.

Where is the surname Pointer most common?

Wikidata records people named Pointer in the United States.

Is the surname Pointer getting more or less common?

More common. 7,004 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 7,453 in 2010, up 6.4%.

The surname Pointer

A surname, carried by 7,453 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex P536

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Pointer is more common than 97.1% of them.

Origin

A surname.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 7,453 people named Pointer in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 41,426 Americans. That is up 6.4% since 2000, when the Census counted 7,004.

#4,752

rank among US surnames

7,453

people in 2010

2.5

per 100,000 Americans

+6.4%

change since 2000 (was #4,630)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#4,743	Jablonski	7,469	41,337
#4,744	Hecht	7,466	41,354
#4,745	Freund	7,465	41,359
#4,746	Piatt	7,463	41,370
#4,747	Cloutier	7,461	41,381
#4,749	Derr	7,456	41,409
#4,751	Posada	7,454	41,420

Who is named Pointer

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

47% of people named Pointer identified as Black (not Hispanic), 47% as white (not Hispanic) and 3.1% as two or more races.

Black (not Hispanic) 47%
White (not Hispanic) 47%
Two or more races 3.1%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.2%

Compare: most common surnames among Black Americans.

Famous Pointers

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Priscilla Pointer
American actress (1924–2025)
Bonnie Pointer
American singer (1950-2020)
Anita Pointer
American singer-songwriter (1948–2022)
June Pointer
American musician (1953–2006)
Sir'Dominic Pointer
American basketball player (born 1992)
Ruth Pointer
American singer, born 1946

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Pointer

Pointer has the Soundex code P536, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code P536.

Questions

How common is the surname Pointer?: 7,453 people in the United States had the surname Pointer in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 41,426 Americans. It ranked 4,752nd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Pointer?: In the 2010 Census, 47% of people named Pointer identified as Black (not Hispanic), and 47% as white (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Pointer?: Priscilla Pointer, American actress (1924–2025), followed by Bonnie Pointer.
Where is the surname Pointer most common?: Wikidata records people named Pointer in the United States.
Is the surname Pointer getting more or less common?: More common. 7,004 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 7,453 in 2010, up 6.4%.