# Tinsley (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/tinsley/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A habitational surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 15,442 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,361 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 19,994 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.1% (14,834 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From the unattested Old English personal name *Tynni + -s- + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Tinsley 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) | 63% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 31% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 2.6% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Tinsley in the United States.

## People named Tinsley

- Michael Tinsley, American hurdler
- Jamaal Tinsley, American basketball player (born 1978)
- Marion Tinsley, American checkers player (1927–1995)
- Boyd Tinsley, American musician

## Similar surnames

Townsley, Tingle, Tingley, Tanksley, Tingler, Tinkle, Tomasello, Townsel, Tomaselli.

## 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.