# Stafford (surname)

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

An English habitational surname from the place name.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Irish |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 46,394 |
| US rank (2010) | 747 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 6,655 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.3% (45,349 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈstæfə(ɹ)d/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Strafford |

## Etymology

From Old English stæþ (“landing place”) + ford. As a surname, occasionally derived from Irish (see Stocker).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Stafford 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) | 79% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 15% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.9% |
| Two or more races | 2.2% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Stafford in the United States, Austria, Australia and the United Kingdom.

## People named Stafford

- Thomas P. Stafford, American astronaut (1930–2024)
- James Stafford, American Catholic cardinal (born 1932)
- Jo Stafford, American singer (1917–2008)
- Jean Stafford, American author (1915–1979)
- Michelle Stafford, American actress (born 1965)
- Frederick Stafford, Austrian actor (1928–1979)
- Matthew Stafford, American football player (born 1988)
- Nancy Stafford, American actress, speaker, and author (born 1954)
- Robert Stafford, American politician (1913–2006)
- Greg Stafford, American game designer (1948–2018)
- Drew Stafford, American ice hockey player (born 1985)
- Tom Stafford, American astronomer (20th century)

and 5 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Stauffer, Stouffer, Stoffer, Stover, Stivers, Stuber, Steverson, Stever, Stauber, Stiver, Stober, Stieber.

## 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.