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The surname Renfrew

A Scottish Gaelic place surname, carried by 627 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈɹɛnfɹuː/ 2 syllables Soundex R516

Renfrew: #35,812 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Renfrew #35,812, 627 people Renfrew: #35,812 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#100Jimenez Renfrew #35,812, 627 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Renfrew is more common than 77.9% of them.

Origin

Scottish Gaelic origin

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

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

One of 277 Scottish Gaelic surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 627 people named Renfrew in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 492,417 Americans. That is up 5.4% since 2000, when the Census counted 595.

#35,812
rank among US surnames
627
people in 2010
0.2
per 100,000 Americans
+5.4%
change since 2000 (was #35,721)

Who is named Renfrew

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

94% of people named Renfrew identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.7% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.6% as Asian and Pacific Islander.

  • White (not Hispanic) 94%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.7%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 1.6%
  • Two or more races 0.8%
The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Black, Native American are not shown.

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Renfrews

1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • Colin Renfrew
    British archaeologist (1937–2024)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Surnames that sound like Renfrew

Renfrew has the Soundex code R516, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code R516.

Other Scottish Gaelic surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Renfrew come from?
From Scottish Gaelic Rinn Friù. from Old British rhyn frwd meaning "point at the current".
How common is the surname Renfrew?
627 people in the United States had the surname Renfrew in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 492,417 Americans. It ranked 35,812th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Renfrew?
In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Renfrew identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.7% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Renfrew?
Colin Renfrew, British archaeologist (1937–2024).
Where is the surname Renfrew most common?
Wikidata records people named Renfrew in the United Kingdom.
How do you pronounce Renfrew?
Renfrew is /ˈɹɛnfɹuː/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Renfrew?
Renfrew is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Renfrew getting more or less common?
More common. 595 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 627 in 2010, up 5.4%.
What are other spellings of Renfrew?
Renfro, Renfrow, Rentfro and Rentfrow.