How common is the surname Townsend?

69,360 people in the United States had the surname Townsend in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 4,451 Americans. It ranked 483rd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Townsend?

William Cameron Townsend, American missionary (1896-1982), followed by Robert Townsend.

Where is the surname Townsend most common?

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

How do you pronounce Townsend?

Townsend is /ˈtaʊn.zənd/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Townsend getting more or less common?

More common. 66,853 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 69,360 in 2010, up 3.8%.

What are other spellings of Townsend?

Townshend, Townhend and Townend.

Is Townsend also a first name?

Yes. Townsend is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Townsend

An English place surname, carried by 69,360 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈtaʊn.zənd/ 2 syllables Soundex T525

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Townsend is more common than 99.7% of them.

Origin

English origin

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

Townsend is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 69,360 people named Townsend in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 4,451 Americans. That is up 3.8% since 2000, when the Census counted 66,853.

#483

rank among US surnames

69,360

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+3.8%

change since 2000 (was #444)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#474	Wolf	70,031	4,409
#475	Valencia	70,000	4,411
#476	Saunders	69,943	4,414
#478	Rowe	69,879	4,418
#479	Gallagher	69,834	4,421
#480	Farmer	69,617	4,435
#481	Hammond	69,515	4,441

Who is named Townsend

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

68% of people named Townsend identified as white (not Hispanic), 26% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 68%
Black (not Hispanic) 26%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
Two or more races 2.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.8%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Townsends

16 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

William Cameron Townsend
American missionary (1896-1982)
Robert Townsend
American actor and director, born 1957
Fitzhugh Townsend
American fencer and electrical engineering professor (1872-1906)
Charles Haskins Townsend
American zoologist (1859–1944)
Colleen Townsend
American actress, born 1928
Henry Townsend
American musician (1909–2006)
John G. Townsend Jr.
American politician (1871-1964)
Jill Townsend
American actress, born 1945
Tammy Townsend
American actress, born 1970
Charles Henry Tyler Townsend
American entomologist (1863–1944)
Charles E. Townsend
American politician (1856–1924)
Jessica Townsend
Australian writer of children's fantasy novels, born 1985

Notable Townsends come mostly from the United States (14) and Australia (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Townshend
Townhend
Townend

Surnames that sound like Townsend

Townson

Townsend has the Soundex code T525, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code T525.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Townsend come from?: From town + -s- + end. From Middle English toun (“hamlet, village”) + ende (“end”), referring to a dweller at the outskirts of a village.
How common is the surname Townsend?: 69,360 people in the United States had the surname Townsend in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 4,451 Americans. It ranked 483rd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Townsend?: In the 2010 Census, 68% of people named Townsend identified as white (not Hispanic), and 26% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Townsend?: William Cameron Townsend, American missionary (1896-1982), followed by Robert Townsend.
Where is the surname Townsend most common?: Wikidata records people named Townsend in the United States and Australia.
How do you pronounce Townsend?: Townsend is /ˈtaʊn.zənd/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Townsend?: Townsend is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Townsend getting more or less common?: More common. 66,853 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 69,360 in 2010, up 3.8%.
What are other spellings of Townsend?: Townshend, Townhend and Townend.
Is Townsend also a first name?: Yes. Townsend is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.