How common is the surname Tester?

4,334 people in the United States had the surname Tester in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 71,238 Americans. It ranked 7,663rd of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Tester?

In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Tester identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Tester?

Jon Tester, American politician and farmer (born 1956).

Where is the surname Tester most common?

Wikidata records people named Tester in the United States.

How do you pronounce Tester?

Tester is /ˈtɛstə(ɹ)/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Tester getting more or less common?

More common. 4,154 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,334 in 2010, up 4.3%.

The surname Tester

A French surname, carried by 4,334 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈtɛstə(ɹ)/ 2 syllables Soundex T236

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Tester is more common than 95.3% of them.

Origin

French origin

From Old French testard (“someone with a big head”), a pejorative from teste (“head”).

One of 791 French surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 4,334 people named Tester in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 71,238 Americans. That is up 4.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 4,154.

#7,663

rank among US surnames

4,334

people in 2010

1.5

per 100,000 Americans

+4.3%

change since 2000 (was #7,396)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#7,658	Kowal	4,337	71,189
#7,660	Hartford	4,336	71,205
#7,662	Desjardins	4,335	71,222
#7,663	Gillman	4,334	71,238
#7,665	Knorr	4,333	71,254
#7,666	Moorhead	4,332	71,271

Who is named Tester

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

95% of people named Tester identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.7% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 95%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
Two or more races 1.7%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.4%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Testers

1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

Jon Tester
American politician and farmer (born 1956)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Tester

Tester has the Soundex code T236, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code T236.

Other French surnames

All 791 French surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Tester come from?: From Old French testard (“someone with a big head”), a pejorative from teste (“head”).
How common is the surname Tester?: 4,334 people in the United States had the surname Tester in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 71,238 Americans. It ranked 7,663rd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Tester?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Tester identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Tester?: Jon Tester, American politician and farmer (born 1956).
Where is the surname Tester most common?: Wikidata records people named Tester in the United States.
How do you pronounce Tester?: Tester is /ˈtɛstə(ɹ)/, 2 syllables.
Is the surname Tester getting more or less common?: More common. 4,154 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,334 in 2010, up 4.3%.