# Spence (surname)

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

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 36,129 |
| US rank (2010) | 964 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 8,546 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.9% (34,435 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈspɛns/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Who carries it

Share of people named Spence 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) | 72% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 22% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

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

## People named Spence

- Michael Spence, American economist (born 1943)
- Frances Spence, American physicist and computer scientist
- Errol Spence, American boxer
- Jonathan Spence, British-born historian
- Lewis Spence, British academic (1874-1955)
- William Spence, British economist and entomologist
- Gerry Spence, American lawyer
- John S. Spence, American politician (1788-1840)
- John Spence, American musician (1969–1987)
- Steve Spence, American athletics competitor (born 1962)
- Skylar Spence, American electronic music producer
- Floyd Spence, American politician (1928–2001)

and 2 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Spencer, Spengler, Spenser, Spencer-Churchill, Spangler, Spinks, Sappington, Spink, Sapienza, Szczepanski, Spangenberg, Spang.

## 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.