How common is the surname Radford?

12,956 people in the United States had the surname Radford in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 23,830 Americans. It ranked 2,785th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Radford?

Peter Radford, British athlete, followed by Basil Radford.

Where is the surname Radford most common?

Wikidata records people named Radford in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Is the surname Radford getting more or less common?

More common. 12,607 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 12,956 in 2010, up 2.8%.

The surname Radford

An English place surname, carried by 12,956 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex R316

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Radford is more common than 98.3% of them.

Origin

English origin

From Old English rēad (“red”) + ford (“ford”).

Radford is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 12,956 people named Radford in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 23,830 Americans. That is up 2.8% since 2000, when the Census counted 12,607.

#2,785

rank among US surnames

12,956

people in 2010

4.4

per 100,000 Americans

+2.8%

change since 2000 (was #2,636)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#2,776	Steen	12,989	23,770
#2,777	Leggett	12,977	23,792
#2,778	Girard	12,975	23,795
#2,779	Su	12,973	23,799
#2,780	Gann	12,972	23,801
#2,781	Lytle	12,970	23,805
#2,782	Nobles	12,965	23,814

Who is named Radford

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

78% of people named Radford identified as white (not Hispanic), 17% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.0% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 78%
Black (not Hispanic) 17%
Two or more races 2.0%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.8%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Radfords

4 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Peter Radford
British athlete, born 1939
Basil Radford
British actor (1897-1952)
Wayne Radford
American basketball player (1956–2021)
Albert Ernest Radford
American botanist (1918-2006)

Notable Radfords come mostly from the United Kingdom (2) and the United States (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Redifer

Surnames that sound like Radford

Redford

Radford has the Soundex code R316, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code R316.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Radford come from?: From Old English rēad (“red”) + ford (“ford”).
How common is the surname Radford?: 12,956 people in the United States had the surname Radford in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 23,830 Americans. It ranked 2,785th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Radford?: In the 2010 Census, 78% of people named Radford identified as white (not Hispanic), and 17% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Radford?: Peter Radford, British athlete, followed by Basil Radford.
Where is the surname Radford most common?: Wikidata records people named Radford in the United Kingdom and the United States.
What type of surname is Radford?: Radford is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Radford getting more or less common?: More common. 12,607 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 12,956 in 2010, up 2.8%.
What are other spellings of Radford?: Redifer.