How common is the surname Telford?

3,280 people in the United States had the surname Telford in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 94,130 Americans. It ranked 9,861st of 162,253 surnames.

Is the surname Telford getting more or less common?

More common. 3,110 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,280 in 2010, up 5.5%.

The surname Telford

A nickname surname, carried by 3,280 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex T416

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Telford is more common than 93.9% of them.

Origin

From Old French taille fer, meaning "(he who) cuts iron" or "iron-cleaver"; used as a nickname for a man who could cleave clean through the armour of his foe. The second syllable was eventually reanalysed as native English 'ford'. Cognate with Tolliver, Taillefer, Telfair, Tallaferro, Taliaferro, Tagliaferro. Compare Eisenhauer. * (road): Named after Thomas Telford, a famous civil engineer.

Telford 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 3,280 people named Telford in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 94,130 Americans. That is up 5.5% since 2000, when the Census counted 3,110.

#9,861

rank among US surnames

3,280

people in 2010

1.1

per 100,000 Americans

+5.5%

change since 2000 (was #9,594)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#9,853	Morello	3,283	94,044
#9,854	Velazco	3,282	94,072
#9,859	O'Boyle	3,281	94,101
#9,861	Decosta	3,280	94,130
#9,865	Reneau	3,279	94,158
#9,870	Biles	3,278	94,187

Who is named Telford

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

78% of people named Telford identified as white (not Hispanic), 17% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 78%
Black (not Hispanic) 17%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.6%
Two or more races 1.7%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Talford
Telfort

Surnames that sound like Telford

Telford has the Soundex code T416, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code T416.

Questions

Where does the surname Telford come from?: From Old French taille fer, meaning "(he who) cuts iron" or "iron-cleaver"; used as a nickname for a man who could cleave clean through the armour of his foe. The second syllable was eventually reanalysed as native English 'ford'. Cognate with Tolliver, Taillefer, Telfair, Tallaferro, Taliaferro,…
How common is the surname Telford?: 3,280 people in the United States had the surname Telford in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 94,130 Americans. It ranked 9,861st of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Telford?: In the 2010 Census, 78% of people named Telford identified as white (not Hispanic), and 17% as Black (not Hispanic).
What type of surname is Telford?: Telford is a nickname surname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor.
Is the surname Telford getting more or less common?: More common. 3,110 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,280 in 2010, up 5.5%.
What are other spellings of Telford?: Talford and Telfort.