How common is the surname Sumner?

18,838 people in the United States had the surname Sumner in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 16,390 Americans. It ranked 1,909th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Sumner?

James Batcheller Sumner, American chemist (1887-1955), followed by Charles Sumner.

Where is the surname Sumner most common?

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

How do you pronounce Sumner?

Sumner is /ˈsʌmnɚ/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Sumner getting more or less common?

More common. 17,837 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 18,838 in 2010, up 5.6%.

Is Sumner also a first name?

Yes. Sumner 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.

The surname Sumner

An English occupational surname, carried by 18,838 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈsʌmnɚ/ 2 syllables Soundex S560

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Sumner is more common than 98.8% of them.

Origin

English origin

From Middle English sumner (“summoner”).

Sumner is an occupational surname: named after the work an ancestor did.

One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 18,838 people named Sumner in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 16,390 Americans. That is up 5.6% since 2000, when the Census counted 17,837.

#1,909

rank among US surnames

18,838

people in 2010

6.4

per 100,000 Americans

+5.6%

change since 2000 (was #1,851)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,900	Keys	18,899	16,337
#1,901	Sylvester	18,896	16,339
#1,902	Nowak	18,891	16,344
#1,903	Weir	18,881	16,352
#1,904	Darling	18,879	16,354
#1,905	Barrientos	18,877	16,356
#1,906	Ogden	18,860	16,370

Who is named Sumner

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

88% of people named Sumner identified as white (not Hispanic), 6.5% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 88%
Black (not Hispanic) 6.5%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
Two or more races 1.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.0%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Sumners

7 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

James Batcheller Sumner
American chemist (1887-1955)
Charles Sumner
American abolitionist and statesman (1811–1874)
William Graham Sumner
American sociologist (1840–1910)
Mickey Sumner
British actress, born 1984
Edmond Sumner
American basketball player (born 1995)
Thomas Hubbard Sumner
American sea captain (1807–1876)
John Bird Sumner
Archbishop of Canterbury; Bishop of Chester; British Anglican bishop (1780-1862)

Notable Sumners come mostly from the United States (5), the United Kingdom (1) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Sumner

Sumner has the Soundex code S560, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S560.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Sumner come from?: From Middle English sumner (“summoner”).
How common is the surname Sumner?: 18,838 people in the United States had the surname Sumner in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 16,390 Americans. It ranked 1,909th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Sumner?: In the 2010 Census, 88% of people named Sumner identified as white (not Hispanic), and 6.5% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Sumner?: James Batcheller Sumner, American chemist (1887-1955), followed by Charles Sumner.
Where is the surname Sumner most common?: Wikidata records people named Sumner in the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
How do you pronounce Sumner?: Sumner is /ˈsʌmnɚ/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Sumner?: Sumner is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
Is the surname Sumner getting more or less common?: More common. 17,837 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 18,838 in 2010, up 5.6%.
Is Sumner also a first name?: Yes. Sumner 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.