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Name Lineage

    The surname Speed

    A nickname surname, carried by 7,255 people in the United States.

    1 syllable Soundex S130

    Speed: #4,859 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer Speed #4,859, 7,255 people Speed: #4,859 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Speed #4,859, 7,255 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Speed is more common than 97% of them.

    Origin

    * As an English surname, from Middle English sped (“good fortune”, literally “assistance, aid”). Also from the noun speed. * As an Irish surname, translated from Ó Fuada, from fuad (“haste, hurriedness”). See Foody. * As a German and Jewish surname, Americanized and translated from Schnell. * Most place names seem to taken from the surname.

    Speed is a nickname surname: from a description or nickname of an ancestor.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 7,255 people named Speed in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 42,556 Americans. That is up 2.4% since 2000, when the Census counted 7,082.

    #4,859
    rank among US surnames
    7,255
    people in 2010
    2.5
    per 100,000 Americans
    +2.4%
    change since 2000 (was #4,589)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #4,850Hornsby7,26742,486
    #4,852McKenney7,26542,498
    #4,853Cupp7,26342,509
    #4,854Christ7,26142,521
    #4,856McCool7,25942,533
    #4,857Ries7,25842,539
    #4,858McDaniels7,25642,550

    Who is named Speed

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

    59% of people named Speed identified as white (not Hispanic), 35% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as two or more races.

    • White (not Hispanic) 59%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 35%
    • Two or more races 2.4%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Speeds

    3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Scott Speed
      American racing driver, born 1983
    • James Speed
      American lawyer and politician (1812–1887)
    • Carol Speed
      American actress, author, and singer-songwriter (1945–2022)

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Speed

    Speed has the Soundex code S130, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S130.

    Questions

    Where does the surname Speed come from?
    * As an English surname, from Middle English sped (“good fortune”, literally “assistance, aid”). Also from the noun speed. * As an Irish surname, translated from Ó Fuada, from fuad (“haste, hurriedness”). See Foody. * As a German and Jewish surname, Americanized and translated from Schnell. * Most…
    How common is the surname Speed?
    7,255 people in the United States had the surname Speed in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 42,556 Americans. It ranked 4,859th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Speed?
    In the 2010 Census, 59% of people named Speed identified as white (not Hispanic), and 35% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Speed?
    Scott Speed, American racing driver, followed by James Speed.
    Where is the surname Speed most common?
    Wikidata records people named Speed in the United States.
    What type of surname is Speed?
    Speed is a nickname surname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor.
    Is the surname Speed getting more or less common?
    More common. 7,082 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 7,255 in 2010, up 2.4%.