How common is the surname Swan?

23,001 people in the United States had the surname Swan in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 13,423 Americans. It ranked 1,564th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Swan?

Isabel Swan, Brazilian sailboat racer, followed by Billy Swan.

Where is the surname Swan most common?

Wikidata records people named Swan in the United States, Brazil and Australia.

Is the surname Swan getting more or less common?

More common. 22,082 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 23,001 in 2010, up 4.2%.

The surname Swan

A nickname surname, carried by 23,001 people in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex S500

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Swan is more common than 99% of them.

Origin

From swan, the bird. * (surname): An English nickname from the swan bird.

Swan 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 23,001 people named Swan in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 13,423 Americans. That is up 4.2% since 2000, when the Census counted 22,082.

#1,564

rank among US surnames

23,001

people in 2010

7.8

per 100,000 Americans

+4.2%

change since 2000 (was #1,477)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,555	Wesley	23,135	13,345
#1,556	Hidalgo	23,134	13,346
#1,557	Cabral	23,128	13,349
#1,558	Samuel	23,125	13,351
#1,559	Lacy	23,110	13,360
#1,560	Gallo	23,056	13,391
#1,561	Egan	23,048	13,396

Who is named Swan

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

79% of people named Swan identified as white (not Hispanic), 13% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 79%
Black (not Hispanic) 13%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
Two or more races 2.4%
American Indian and Alaska Native 2.2%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.9%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Swans

5 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Isabel Swan
Brazilian sailboat racer, born 1983
Billy Swan
American musician and songwriter, born 1942
Wayne Swan
Australian politician, 14th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, born 1954
Curt Swan
American artist (1920-1996)
Michael Swan
American actor, born 1948

Notable Swans come mostly from the United States (3), Brazil (1) and Australia (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Swann

Surnames that sound like Swan

Swan has the Soundex code S500, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S500.

Questions

Where does the surname Swan come from?: From swan, the bird. * (surname): An English nickname from the swan bird.
How common is the surname Swan?: 23,001 people in the United States had the surname Swan in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 13,423 Americans. It ranked 1,564th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Swan?: In the 2010 Census, 79% of people named Swan identified as white (not Hispanic), and 13% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Swan?: Isabel Swan, Brazilian sailboat racer, followed by Billy Swan.
Where is the surname Swan most common?: Wikidata records people named Swan in the United States, Brazil and Australia.
What type of surname is Swan?: Swan is a nickname surname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor.
Is the surname Swan getting more or less common?: More common. 22,082 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 23,001 in 2010, up 4.2%.
What are other spellings of Swan?: Swann.