# Porteous (surname)

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

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 981 |
| US rank (2010) | 25,255 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 314,725 people |
| Change since 2000 | +8.5% (904 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Two possible origins: * A topographic surname for someone who lived in the lodge at the entrance to a manor house, from Middle English port (“gateway, entrance”) + hous (“house”). * From Anglo-Norman porteose (“porteous”), a metonymic occupational surname for a scribe employed in writing portable prayerbooks.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Porteous 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) | 81% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 10.0% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 5.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.5% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Porteous in Australia.

## People named Porteous

- Julian Porteous, Australian archbishop

## Similar surnames

Portis, Portugal, Paredes, Pritchard, Pritchett, Paradis, Pridgen, Paradise, Paradiso, Pritts, Paredez, Partyka.

## 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.