How common is the surname Shaw?

160,400 people in the United States had the surname Shaw in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 1,925 Americans. It ranked 164th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Shaw?

Robert Shaw, British actor and writer (1927–1978), followed by Irwin Shaw.

Where is the surname Shaw most common?

Wikidata records people named Shaw in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 2 other countries.

Is the surname Shaw getting more or less common?

More common. 155,172 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 160,400 in 2010, up 3.4%.

The surname Shaw

A place surname, carried by 160,400 people in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex S000

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Shaw is more common than 99.9% of them.

Origin

From shaw.

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

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 160,400 people named Shaw in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 1,925 Americans. That is up 3.4% since 2000, when the Census counted 155,172.

#164

rank among US surnames

160,400

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+3.4%

change since 2000 (was #150)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#155	Burns	165,925	1,861
#156	Crawford	164,457	1,877
#157	Olson	164,035	1,882
#158	Simpson	163,181	1,892
#159	Porter	163,054	1,894
#160	Hunter	162,440	1,901
#161	Gordon	161,833	1,908

Who is named Shaw

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

72% of people named Shaw identified as white (not Hispanic), 21% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 72%
Black (not Hispanic) 21%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
Two or more races 2.1%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.5%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.8%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Shaws

60 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Robert Shaw
British actor and writer (1927–1978)
Irwin Shaw
American writer (1913–1984)
Sebastian Shaw
British actor and author (1905–1994)
Doc Shaw
American actor, singer and rapper (born 1992)
Lindsey Shaw
American actress, born 1989
Vinessa Shaw
American actress, born 1976
Brewster H. Shaw
American astronaut, born 1945
Woody Shaw
American musician (1944-1989)
Anna Howard Shaw
American physician and activist (1847-1919)
Carol Shaw
American video game designer, born 1955
Martin Shaw
British actor, born 1945
Frankie Shaw
American actress, writer, directress and comedian, born 1986

Notable Shaws come mostly from the United States (49), the United Kingdom (7) and Australia (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Shaw

Shaw has the Soundex code S000, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S000.

Questions

Where does the surname Shaw come from?: From shaw.
How common is the surname Shaw?: 160,400 people in the United States had the surname Shaw in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 1,925 Americans. It ranked 164th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Shaw?: In the 2010 Census, 72% of people named Shaw identified as white (not Hispanic), and 21% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Shaw?: Robert Shaw, British actor and writer (1927–1978), followed by Irwin Shaw.
Where is the surname Shaw most common?: Wikidata records people named Shaw in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 2 other countries.
What type of surname is Shaw?: Shaw is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Shaw getting more or less common?: More common. 155,172 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 160,400 in 2010, up 3.4%.