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    The surname Rooney

    An Irish patronymic surname, carried by 16,823 people in the United States.

    Pronounced /ˈɹuːni/ 2 syllables Soundex R500

    Rooney: #2,156 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Rooney #2,156, 16,823 people Rooney: #2,156 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Rooney #2,156, 16,823 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Rooney is more common than 98.7% of them.

    Origin

    Irish origin

    Anglicised from Irish Ó Ruanaidh (“descendant of a person named Champion”).

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

    One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 16,823 people named Rooney in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 18,353 Americans. That is up 24% since 2000, when the Census counted 13,527.

    #2,156
    rank among US surnames
    16,823
    people in 2010
    5.7
    per 100,000 Americans
    +24.4%
    change since 2000 (was #2,450)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #2,147Hsu16,90718,261
    #2,148Comer16,89318,277
    #2,149Hawk16,88418,286
    #2,150Hamlin16,87118,300
    #2,152Schwab16,87018,301
    #2,153Gauthier16,85218,321
    #2,154Haskins16,84218,332

    Who is named Rooney

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

    94% of people named Rooney identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.6% as Black (not Hispanic).

    • White (not Hispanic) 94%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.5%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 1.6%
    • Two or more races 1.3%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.2%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Rooneys

    11 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Mickey Rooney
      American actor (1920–2014)
    • Martyn Rooney
      British athletics competitor (born 1987)
    • Giaan Rooney
      Australian swimmer, Olympic gold medallist, world champion, former world record-holder, born 1982
    • Francis Rooney
      American politician and diplomat (born 1953)
    • Jimmy Rooney
      Australian footballer (born 1945)
    • Tom Rooney
      American politician from Florida (born 1970)
    • Maddie Rooney
      American ice hockey player, born 1997
    • Dan Rooney
      American football executive/owner, philanthropist and diplomat (1932-2017)
    • Tim Rooney
      American actor (1947-2006)
    • Fred B. Rooney
      American politician, 1925–2019
    • Christy Carlson Romano
      American actress (born 1984)

    Notable Rooneys come mostly from the United States (8), Australia (2) and the United Kingdom (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Rooney

    Rooney has the Soundex code R500, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code R500.

    Other Irish surnames

    All 880 Irish surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Rooney come from?
    Anglicised from Irish Ó Ruanaidh (“descendant of a person named Champion”).
    How common is the surname Rooney?
    16,823 people in the United States had the surname Rooney in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 18,353 Americans. It ranked 2,156th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Rooney?
    In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Rooney identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
    Who is the most famous person named Rooney?
    Mickey Rooney, American actor (1920–2014), followed by Martyn Rooney.
    Where is the surname Rooney most common?
    Wikidata records people named Rooney in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.
    How do you pronounce Rooney?
    Rooney is /ˈɹuːni/, 2 syllables.
    What type of surname is Rooney?
    Rooney is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
    Is the surname Rooney getting more or less common?
    More common. 13,527 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 16,823 in 2010, up 24%.