# Welles (surname)

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

A locational surname

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 1,404 |
| US rank (2010) | 19,291 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 219,904 people |
| Change since 2000 | -8.4% (1,533 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Named after Well, Lincolnshire, from Old English wielle (“fountain, spring”). Cognate with English well.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Welles 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) | 88% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 7.0% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.1% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4% |
| Two or more races | 1.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Welles in the United States.

## People named Welles

- Orson Welles, American actor and filmmaker (1915–1985)
- Gideon Welles, American government official; United States Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1869 (1802–
- Sumner Welles, American government official and diplomat (1892-1961)
- Jennifer Welles, American pornographic actress and glamour model (1937–2018)
- Tori Welles, American pornographic actress and director
- Samuel Paul Welles, American palaeontologist (1909–1997)
- Mel Welles, American film actor (1924-2005)
- Terri Welles, American model and actress

## Similar surnames

Wells, Walls, Wills, Welsh, Welsch, Welk, Welke, Wallace, Willis, Welch, Walsh, Wiles.

## 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.