# Townsend (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/townsend/  
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 | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 69,360 |
| US rank (2010) | 483 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 4,451 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.8% (66,853 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈtaʊn.zənd/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Townshend, Townhend, Townend |

## Etymology

From town + -s- + end. From Middle English toun (“hamlet, village”) + ende (“end”), referring to a dweller at the outskirts of a village.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Townsend 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) | 68% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 26% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 2.3% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Townsend in the United States and Australia.

## People named Townsend

- William Cameron Townsend, American missionary (1896-1982)
- Robert Townsend, American actor and director
- Fitzhugh Townsend, American fencer and electrical engineering professor (1872-1906)
- Charles Haskins Townsend, American zoologist (1859–1944)
- Colleen Townsend, American actress
- Henry Townsend, American musician (1909–2006)
- John G. Townsend Jr., American politician (1871-1964)
- Jill Townsend, American actress
- Tammy Townsend, American actress
- Charles Henry Tyler Townsend, American entomologist (1863–1944)
- Charles E. Townsend, American politician (1856–1924)
- Jessica Townsend, Australian writer of children's fantasy novels

and 4 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Townson, Thomson, Thomason, Thomsen, Thomasson, Tennyson, Tennison, Tonkin, Tinkham, Tomkins, Tangen, Tanguma.

## 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.