# Renfrew (surname)

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

A habitational surname from Scottish Gaelic.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Scottish Gaelic |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 627 |
| US rank (2010) | 35,812 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 492,417 people |
| Change since 2000 | +5.4% (595 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɹɛnfɹuː/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Renfro, Renfrow, Rentfro, Rentfrow |

## Etymology

From Scottish Gaelic Rinn Friù. from Old British rhyn frwd meaning "point at the current".

## Who carries it

Share of people named Renfrew 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) | 94% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.6% |
| Two or more races | 0.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Renfrew in the United Kingdom.

## People named Renfrew

- Colin Renfrew, British archaeologist (1937–2024)

## Similar surnames

Renfro, Renfroe, Renfrow, Rembert, Rampersad, Rampersaud, Rambert, Rainford, Ramberg.

## 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.