How common is the surname Wallace?

197,276 people in the United States had the surname Wallace in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 1,565 Americans. It ranked 123rd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Wallace?

Henry A. Wallace, American politician (1888–1965); Vice President of the United States from 1941 to 1945, followed by Edgar Wallace.

Where is the surname Wallace most common?

Wikidata records people named Wallace in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 3 other countries.

How do you pronounce Wallace?

Wallace is /ˈwɑləs/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Wallace getting more or less common?

More common. 190,760 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 197,276 in 2010, up 3.4%.

Is Wallace also a first name?

Yes. Wallace 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 Wallace

A Norman nickname surname, carried by 197,276 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈwɑləs/ 2 syllables Soundex W420 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Wallace is more common than 99.9% of them.

Origin

Norman origin

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

Wallace is a nickname surname: from a description or nickname of an ancestor.

One of 128 Norman surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 197,276 people named Wallace in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 1,565 Americans. That is up 3.4% since 2000, when the Census counted 190,760.

#123

rank among US surnames

197,276

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+3.4%

change since 2000 (was #113)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#114	Simmons	210,182	1,469
#115	Romero	208,614	1,480
#116	Jordan	208,403	1,481
#117	Patterson	205,423	1,503
#118	Alexander	204,621	1,509
#119	Hamilton	201,746	1,530
#120	Graham	201,159	1,535

Who is named Wallace

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

69% of people named Wallace identified as white (not Hispanic), 25% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 69%
Black (not Hispanic) 25%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.5%
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 Wallaces

62 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

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, 1827–1905
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, born 1948
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)

Notable Wallaces come mostly from the United States (55), the United Kingdom (2) and Australia (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Wallace

Wallace has the Soundex code W420, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W420.

Other Norman surnames

All 128 Norman surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Wallace come from?: An Old English byname for a Welshman or Breton, from Anglo-Norman waleis (“foreign”); see wǣlisċ.
How common is the surname Wallace?: 197,276 people in the United States had the surname Wallace in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 1,565 Americans. It ranked 123rd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Wallace?: In the 2010 Census, 69% of people named Wallace identified as white (not Hispanic), and 25% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Wallace?: Henry A. Wallace, American politician (1888–1965); Vice President of the United States from 1941 to 1945, followed by Edgar Wallace.
Where is the surname Wallace most common?: Wikidata records people named Wallace in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 3 other countries.
How do you pronounce Wallace?: Wallace is /ˈwɑləs/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Wallace?: Wallace is a nickname surname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor.
Is the surname Wallace getting more or less common?: More common. 190,760 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 197,276 in 2010, up 3.4%.
Is Wallace also a first name?: Yes. Wallace 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.