How common is the surname Welch?

108,987 people in the United States had the surname Welch in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 2,833 Americans. It ranked 284th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Welch?

Raquel Welch, American actress (1940–2023), followed by Jack Welch.

Where is the surname Welch most common?

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

How do you pronounce Welch?

Welch is /wɛlt͡ʃ/, one syllable.

Is the surname Welch getting more or less common?

More common. 105,804 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 108,987 in 2010, up 3.0%.

What are other spellings of Welch?

Welsh, Walsh, Walshe and Walch.

The surname Welch

A nickname surname, carried by 108,987 people in the United States.

Pronounced /wɛlt͡ʃ/ 1 syllable Soundex W420

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Welch is more common than 99.8% of them.

Origin

Inherited from Middle English Welich, variant of Walsch, from Old English welisc, wīelisċ, from Proto-West Germanic *walhisk, from Proto-Germanic *walhiskaz.

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

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 108,987 people named Welch in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 2,833 Americans. That is up 3.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 105,804.

#284

rank among US surnames

108,987

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+3%

change since 2000 (was #259)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#275	Reid	111,360	2,772
#276	Hanson	111,144	2,778
#277	Le	110,967	2,782
#278	McCoy	110,744	2,788
#279	Garrett	110,697	2,789
#280	Burton	110,529	2,793
#281	Fuller	110,116	2,804

Who is named Welch

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

83% of people named Welch identified as white (not Hispanic), 10% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 83%
Black (not Hispanic) 10%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.5%
Two or more races 1.9%
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.1%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Welchs

20 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Raquel Welch
American actress (1940–2023)
Jack Welch
American executive: General Electric CEO (1935–2020)
Brian Welch
American guitarist (born 1970)
Michael Welch
American actor, born 1987
Gillian Welch
American musician, born 1967
Bob Welch
American musician (1945–2012)
William Henry Welch
American physician and scientist (1850–1934)
Tahnee Welch
American actress, born 1961
Bo Welch
American production designer, art director, film and television director and actor, born 1951
Olivia Scott Welch
American actress, born 1998
Stuart Welch
Australian rower, born 1977
Lew Welch
American poet (1926–1971)

Notable Welchs come mostly from the United States (18) and Australia (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Surnames that sound like Welch

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

Questions

Where does the surname Welch come from?: Inherited from Middle English Welich, variant of Walsch, from Old English welisc, wīelisċ, from Proto-West Germanic *walhisk, from Proto-Germanic *walhiskaz.
How common is the surname Welch?: 108,987 people in the United States had the surname Welch in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 2,833 Americans. It ranked 284th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Welch?: In the 2010 Census, 83% of people named Welch identified as white (not Hispanic), and 10% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Welch?: Raquel Welch, American actress (1940–2023), followed by Jack Welch.
Where is the surname Welch most common?: Wikidata records people named Welch in the United States and Australia.
How do you pronounce Welch?: Welch is /wɛlt͡ʃ/, one syllable.
What type of surname is Welch?: Welch is a nickname surname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor.
Is the surname Welch getting more or less common?: More common. 105,804 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 108,987 in 2010, up 3.0%.
What are other spellings of Welch?: Welsh, Walsh, Walshe and Walch.