# Royal (surname)

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

A surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 15,755 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,319 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 19,597 people |
| Change since 2000 | +6.9% (14,739 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

A habitational surname, shaped by folk etymology, from places in England, Riehale, Righale, Ryhill and Ryall, Old English ryge (“rye”) + hyll (“hill”), and Royle, rā (“roe”) + hyll (“hill”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Royal 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) | 52% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 41% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 2.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Royal in the United States.

## People named Royal

- Billy Joe Royal, American singer (1942-2015)
- Ernie Royal, American jazz trumpeter (1921–1983)
- Eddie Royal, American football player

## Similar surnames

Royall, Roll, Royle, Roel, Riley, Reilly, Rowell, Rowley, Real, Raley, Rule, Reel.

## 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.