# Taft (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/taft/  
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) | 9,048 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,933 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 34,123 people |
| Change since 2000 | +5.3% (8,589 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /tæft/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

In the United States, many of the places established since 1909 are named after William Howard Taft.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Taft 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) | 84% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 10% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.7% |
| Two or more races | 1.7% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Taft in the United States.

## People named Taft

- William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States from 1909 to 1913 (1857–1930)
- Robert A. Taft, American politician, son of 27th U.S. President William Howard Taft (1889–1953)
- Alphonso Taft, American diplomat (1810–1891)
- Bob Taft, American politician in Ohio (born 1942)
- Lorado Taft, American sculptor and writer (1860–1936)
- Robert Taft Jr., American politician (1917–1993)
- Kingsley A. Taft, American politician (1903-1970)
- Robert F. Taft, American Jesuit historian and liturgist (1932-2018)

## Similar surnames

Toft, Thibodeau, Topete, Tippett, Tefft, Taboada, Tippit, Tvedt.

## 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.