How common is the surname Prince?

47,168 people in the United States had the surname Prince in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 6,546 Americans. It ranked 743rd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Prince?

Tayshaun Prince, American basketball player (born 1980), followed by Harold Prince.

Where is the surname Prince most common?

Wikidata records people named Prince in the United States and Belarus.

Is the surname Prince getting more or less common?

More common. 44,640 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 47,168 in 2010, up 5.7%.

Is Prince also a first name?

Yes. Prince is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Prince

A nickname surname, carried by 47,168 people in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex P652 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Prince is more common than 99.5% of them.

Origin

A surname transferred from the nickname for someone who acted like a prince, or played the part in a pageant, or served in the household of a prince.

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

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 47,168 people named Prince in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 6,546 Americans. That is up 5.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 44,640.

#743

rank among US surnames

47,168

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+5.7%

change since 2000 (was #700)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#734	Snow	47,528	6,496
#735	Huerta	47,455	6,506
#736	Preston	47,367	6,518
#737	Vance	47,324	6,524
#738	Barry	47,274	6,531
#739	Johns	47,246	6,535
#740	Eaton	47,184	6,543

Who is named Prince

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

66% of people named Prince identified as white (not Hispanic), 26% as Black (not Hispanic) and 3.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 66%
Black (not Hispanic) 26%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.1%
Two or more races 2.4%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.9%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Princes

22 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Tayshaun Prince
American basketball player (born 1980)
Harold Prince
American theatre producer and director (1928–2019)
Erik Prince
American businessman, former US Navy SEAL officer and the founder of the private military , born 1969
Robert Prince
American video game composer (1945–2026)
Taurean Prince
American basketball player (born 1994)
Richard Prince
American painter and photographer (born 1949)
Faith Prince
American actress, born 1957
Brooklynn Prince
American child actress, born 2010
Bevin Prince
American actress, born 1982
Helen Dodson Prince
American astronomer, 1905–2002
Conner Prince
American sport shooter, born 2000
William Prince
American actor (1913–1996)

Notable Princes come mostly from the United States (21) and Belarus (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Prince

Prince has the Soundex code P652, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code P652.

Questions

How common is the surname Prince?: 47,168 people in the United States had the surname Prince in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 6,546 Americans. It ranked 743rd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Prince?: In the 2010 Census, 66% of people named Prince identified as white (not Hispanic), and 26% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Prince?: Tayshaun Prince, American basketball player (born 1980), followed by Harold Prince.
Where is the surname Prince most common?: Wikidata records people named Prince in the United States and Belarus.
What type of surname is Prince?: Prince is a nickname surname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor.
Is the surname Prince getting more or less common?: More common. 44,640 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 47,168 in 2010, up 5.7%.
Is Prince also a first name?: Yes. Prince is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.