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The surname Ransom

A surname, carried by 16,871 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈɹænsəm/ 2 syllables Soundex R525

Ransom: #2,150 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Ransom #2,150, 16,871 people Ransom: #2,150 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Ransom #2,150, 16,871 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Ransom is more common than 98.7% of them.

Origin

A surname.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 16,871 people named Ransom in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 18,300 Americans. That is up 7.1% since 2000, when the Census counted 15,754.

#2,150
rank among US surnames
16,871
people in 2010
5.7
per 100,000 Americans
+7.1%
change since 2000 (was #2,113)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#2,141Cottrell16,93018,237
#2,142Whitlock16,92718,240
#2,143Bello16,91518,253
#2,144Frias16,91118,257
#2,145Knutson16,91018,258
#2,146Hussain16,90918,259
#2,147Hsu16,90718,261

Who is named Ransom

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

53% of people named Ransom identified as white (not Hispanic), 38% as Black (not Hispanic) and 3.2% as two or more races.

  • White (not Hispanic) 53%
  • Black (not Hispanic) 38%
  • Two or more races 3.2%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.8%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native 2.3%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Ransoms

2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • John Crowe Ransom
    American poet (1888–1974)
  • Caroline L. Ransom
    American egyptologist and classical archaeologist, 1872–1952

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Ransom

Ransom has the Soundex code R525, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code R525.

Questions

How common is the surname Ransom?
16,871 people in the United States had the surname Ransom in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 18,300 Americans. It ranked 2,150th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Ransom?
In the 2010 Census, 53% of people named Ransom identified as white (not Hispanic), and 38% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Ransom?
John Crowe Ransom, American poet (1888–1974), followed by Caroline L. Ransom.
Where is the surname Ransom most common?
Wikidata records people named Ransom in the United States.
How do you pronounce Ransom?
Ransom is /ˈɹænsəm/, 2 syllables.
Is the surname Ransom getting more or less common?
More common. 15,754 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 16,871 in 2010, up 7.1%.