# Wallace (surname)

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

A Scottish surname transferred from the nickname, notably of the Scottish patriot William Wallace.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Norman |
| Type | nickname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 197,276 |
| US rank (2010) | 123 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 1,565 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.4% (190,760 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈwɑləs/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

An Old English byname for a Welshman or Breton, from Anglo-Norman waleis (“foreign”); see wǣlisċ.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Wallace 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) | 69% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 25% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 2.3% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Wallace in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Republic of the Congo, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain.

## People named Wallace

- Henry A. Wallace, American politician (1888–1965); Vice President of the United States from 1941 to 1945
- Edgar Wallace, British crime writer, journalist and playwright (1875–1932)
- David Foster Wallace, American fiction writer and essayist (1962–2008)
- Lew Wallace, American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, territorial governor and statesm
- George Wallace, 45th Governor of Alabama (1919–1998)
- Marcia Wallace Peams, American actress and comedian (1942-2013)
- Mike Wallace, American journalist, game show host and actor (1918–2012)
- Dee Wallace, American actress
- Rasheed Wallace, American basketball player (born 1974)
- Ben Wallace, American basketball player (born 1974)
- Gerald Wallace, American basketball player (born 1982)
- Irving Wallace, American writer (1916-1990)

and 50 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Walls, Wallis, Wallach, Wallick, Walch, Walck, Walke, Walshe, Wells, Willis, Welch, Walsh.

## 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.