How common is the surname Whalen?

24,262 people in the United States had the surname Whalen in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 12,725 Americans. It ranked 1,470th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Whalen?

In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Whalen identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Whalen?

Lindsay Whalen, American Hall of Fame basketball player and coach, followed by Sean Whalen.

Where is the surname Whalen most common?

Wikidata records people named Whalen in the United States.

How do you pronounce Whalen?

Whalen is /ˈweɪ.lən/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Whalen getting more or less common?

More common. 23,642 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 24,262 in 2010, up 2.6%.

The surname Whalen

An Irish surname, carried by 24,262 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈweɪ.lən/ 2 syllables Soundex W450

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Whalen is more common than 99.1% of them.

Origin

Irish origin

Variant of Whelan.

One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 24,262 people named Whalen in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 12,725 Americans. That is up 2.6% since 2000, when the Census counted 23,642.

#1,470

rank among US surnames

24,262

people in 2010

8.2

per 100,000 Americans

+2.6%

change since 2000 (was #1,377)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,461	Schulz	24,385	12,661
#1,462	Sanderson	24,384	12,662
#1,464	Tolbert	24,375	12,666
#1,465	Lund	24,347	12,681
#1,466	Blue	24,341	12,684
#1,467	Kay	24,337	12,686
#1,469	Shapiro	24,335	12,687

Who is named Whalen

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

93% of people named Whalen identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 2.0% as Black (not Hispanic).

White (not Hispanic) 93%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
Black (not Hispanic) 2.0%
Two or more races 1.4%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Whalens

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Lindsay Whalen
American Hall of Fame basketball player and coach, born 1982
Sean Whalen
American actor, born 1964
Philip Whalen
American poet (1923–2002)
Sara Whalen
American soccer player, born 1976
Michael Whalen
American actor (1902-1974)
Charles W. Whalen
American politician (1920-2011)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Whalen

Whalen has the Soundex code W450, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W450.

Other Irish surnames

All 880 Irish surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Whalen come from?: Variant of Whelan.
How common is the surname Whalen?: 24,262 people in the United States had the surname Whalen in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 12,725 Americans. It ranked 1,470th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Whalen?: In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Whalen identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Whalen?: Lindsay Whalen, American Hall of Fame basketball player and coach, followed by Sean Whalen.
Where is the surname Whalen most common?: Wikidata records people named Whalen in the United States.
How do you pronounce Whalen?: Whalen is /ˈweɪ.lən/, 2 syllables.
Is the surname Whalen getting more or less common?: More common. 23,642 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 24,262 in 2010, up 2.6%.