# Rainbow (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/rainbow/  
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 | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| 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 | +1.5% (551 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Two main origins: * From an altered form of the Old French personal name Rainbaut, which is composed of the Proto-Germanic elements *raginą (“advice, counsel”) and *balþaz (“strong, bold”). * Translation of German Regenbogen, a Jewish Ashkenazi ornamental surname.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Rainbow 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) | 74% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 8.1% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 4.3% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 11% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Rainbow in Australia.

## People named Rainbow

- William Joseph Rainbow, Australian arachnologist (1856–1919)

## Similar surnames

Rambo, Rumph, Rempe, Rumpf, Rambeau.

## 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.