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The surnameRobinson

A patronymic surname, the 30th most common in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈɹɑb.ɪn.sən/ 3 syllables Soundex R152 Also a first name

Robinson: #30 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Robinson #30, 529,821 people Robinson: #30 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#1,000Archer Robinson #30, 529,821 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Robinson is more common than 99.9% of them.

Origin

From Robin + -son.

Robinson is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 529,821 people named Robinson in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 583 Americans. That is up 5.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 503,028.

#30
rank among US surnames
529,821
people in 2010
180
per 100,000 Americans
+5.3%
change since 2000 (was #27)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#21Lee693,023446
#22Perez681,645453
#23Thompson664,644465
#24White660,491467
#25Harris624,252495
#26Sánchez612,752504
#27Clark562,679549

Who is named Robinson

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

49% of people named Robinson identified as white (not Hispanic), 45% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.8% as two or more races.

  • White (not Hispanic) 49%
  • Black (not Hispanic) 45%
  • Two or more races 2.8%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.6%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Robinsons

194 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • Jackie Robinson
    American baseball player (1919–1972)
  • Sugar Ray Robinson
    American boxer (1921–1989)
  • David Robinson
    American basketball player (born 1965)
  • Marilynne Robinson
    American novelist and essayist (born 1943)
  • Nick Robinson
    American actor, born 1995
  • Kim Stanley Robinson
    American science fiction writer (born 1952)
  • Smokey Robinson
    American R&B singer, songwriter and producer (born 1940)
  • Julia Hall Bowman Robinson
    American mathematician (1919–1985)
  • Nate Robinson
    American basketball player (born 1984)
  • Antonee Robinson
    American soccer player, born 1997
  • Craig Robinson
    American actor and comedian (born 1971)
  • Andrew Robinson
    American actor and professor, born 1942

Notable Robinsons come mostly from the United States (157), the United Kingdom (13) and Australia (10).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Robinson

Robinson has the Soundex code R152, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code R152.

Questions

Where does the surname Robinson come from?
From Robin + -son.
How common is the surname Robinson?
529,821 people in the United States had the surname Robinson in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 583 Americans. It ranked 30th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Robinson?
In the 2010 Census, 49% of people named Robinson identified as white (not Hispanic), and 45% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Robinson?
Jackie Robinson, American baseball player (1919–1972), followed by Sugar Ray Robinson.