# Pope (surname)

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

An English surname transferred from the nickname originating as a nickname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | nickname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 63,881 |
| US rank (2010) | 528 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 4,833 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.5% (61,750 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /poʊp/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From pope; also used in Ireland/Scotland as a surname meaning "papa, father."

## Who carries it

Share of people named Pope 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) | 71% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 24% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Pope in the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

## People named Pope

- Eddie Pope, American soccer player
- Cassadee Pope, American singer
- Jeremy Pope, American actor
- John Russell Pope, American architect (1874–1937)
- Bill Pope, American cinematographer
- Dick Pope, British cinematographer (1947–2024)
- Paula Jean Myers-Pope, American diver (1934–1995)
- Lucas Pope, American video game designer
- Gus Pope, athletics competitor (1898–1953)
- Martin Pope, American physical chemist (1918–2022)
- John Pope, American politician (1770–1845)
- William Jackson Pope, British chemist (1870-1939)

and 5 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Popp, Pape, Pepe, Poppe, Popa, Pop, Pfaff, Papa, Poff, Peavy, Papp, Paiva.

## 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.