How common is the surname Searle?

4,680 people in the United States had the surname Searle in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 65,971 Americans. It ranked 7,145th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Searle?

In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Searle identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Searle?

John Searle, American philosopher (1932–2025), followed by George Mary Searle.

Where is the surname Searle most common?

Wikidata records people named Searle in the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

How do you pronounce Searle?

Searle is /sɝl/, one syllable.

Is the surname Searle getting more or less common?

More common. 4,369 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,680 in 2010, up 7.1%.

The surname Searle

A surname, carried by 4,680 people in the United States.

Pronounced /sɝl/ 1 syllable Soundex S640

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Searle is more common than 95.6% of them.

Origin

A surname.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 4,680 people named Searle in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 65,971 Americans. That is up 7.1% since 2000, when the Census counted 4,369.

#7,145

rank among US surnames

4,680

people in 2010

1.6

per 100,000 Americans

+7.1%

change since 2000 (was #7,059)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#7,141	Revels	4,683	65,929
#7,142	Kunkle	4,682	65,943
#7,143	Kulp	4,681	65,957
#7,145	Weng	4,680	65,971
#7,148	Toribio	4,679	65,985

Who is named Searle

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

94% of people named Searle identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.6% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 94%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.5%
Two or more races 1.6%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.5%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Searles

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

John Searle
American philosopher (1932–2025)
George Mary Searle
American astronomer (1839-1918)
Ronald Searle
British artist and satirical cartoonist (1920-2011)

Notable Searles come mostly from the United States (2) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Serle

Searle has the Soundex code S640, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S640.

Questions

How common is the surname Searle?: 4,680 people in the United States had the surname Searle in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 65,971 Americans. It ranked 7,145th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Searle?: In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Searle identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Searle?: John Searle, American philosopher (1932–2025), followed by George Mary Searle.
Where is the surname Searle most common?: Wikidata records people named Searle in the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
How do you pronounce Searle?: Searle is /sɝl/, one syllable.
Is the surname Searle getting more or less common?: More common. 4,369 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,680 in 2010, up 7.1%.
What are other spellings of Searle?: Serle.