The surname Sinclair
A patronymic surname, carried by 27,243 people in the United States.
Pronounced /sɪŋˈklɛəɹ/ 2 syllables Soundex S524 Also a first name
Origin
Derived from Saint Clare, to whom the clan's churches were dedicated.
Sinclair 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 27,243 people named Sinclair in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 11,333 Americans. That is up 4.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 26,014.
Who is named Sinclair
Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census
73% of people named Sinclair identified as white (not Hispanic), 20% as Black (not Hispanic) and 3.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
- White (not Hispanic) 73%
- Black (not Hispanic) 20%
- Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.8%
- Two or more races 1.9%
- American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%
- Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
Famous Sinclairs
14 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first
- Upton SinclairAmerican writer (1878–1968)
- Jaz SinclairAmerican actress, born 1994
- David A. SinclairAustralian biologist and geneticist, born 1969
- Richard SinclairBritish bassist, born 1948
- John SinclairAmerican poet (1941–2024)
- Jim SinclairAutism rights activist, born 1962
- Joshua SinclairAmerican writer, actor and director, born 1953
- Stephanie SinclairAmerican photojournalist, born 1973
- Jonathan SinclairBritish diplomat (1970- )
- Ian SinclairAmerican voice actor, born 1984
- John SinclairAustralian environmentalist, 1939–2019
- Vin DieselAmerican actor (born 1967)
Notable Sinclairs come mostly from the United States (10), Australia (2) and the United Kingdom (2).
Spellings and sound-alikes
Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling
Variant spellings
- Sinclaire
- Sinclare
- Sinclar
Surnames that sound like Sinclair
Sinclair has the Soundex code S524, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S524.
Questions
- Where does the surname Sinclair come from?
- Derived from Saint Clare, to whom the clan's churches were dedicated.
- How common is the surname Sinclair?
- 27,243 people in the United States had the surname Sinclair in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 11,333 Americans. It ranked 1,290th of 162,253 surnames.
- What ethnicity is the surname Sinclair?
- In the 2010 Census, 73% of people named Sinclair identified as white (not Hispanic), and 20% as Black (not Hispanic).
- Who is the most famous person named Sinclair?
- Upton Sinclair, American writer (1878–1968), followed by Jaz Sinclair.
- Where is the surname Sinclair most common?
- Wikidata records people named Sinclair in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.
- How do you pronounce Sinclair?
- Sinclair is /sɪŋˈklɛəɹ/, 2 syllables.
- What type of surname is Sinclair?
- Sinclair is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
- Is the surname Sinclair getting more or less common?
- More common. 26,014 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 27,243 in 2010, up 4.7%.
- What are other spellings of Sinclair?
- Sinclaire, Sinclare and Sinclar.
- Is Sinclair also a first name?
- Yes. Sinclair is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.