# Pontiff (surname)

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

A surname transferred from the nickname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | nickname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 559 |
| US rank (2010) | 39,352 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 552,318 people |
| Change since 2000 | -1.9% (570 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From pontiff, a nickname for someone who had played the role of the pope in a medieval religious play, or for a vain and pompous person.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Pontiff 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) | 95% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.9% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 2.0% |

## 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.