# Wharton (surname)

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

A habitational surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 11,656 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,084 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 26,488 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.7% (11,354 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈʍɔː(ɹ)tən/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Various possible origins: * The villages in Cheshire and Herefordshire are named after the River Weaver, whose name derives from Old English wæfre (“wavering, winding”), + Old English tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”). * The village in Lincolnshire is named with either Old English weard (“ward, guard”) or waroþ (“shore, warth”) + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”). * The village in Cumbria is named with Old English hwearf (“wharf, embankment”) + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Wharton 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) | 73% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 20% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.8% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 2.6% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Wharton in the United States, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom.

## People named Wharton

- Edith Wharton, American writer and designer (1862–1937)
- William Wharton, American author and painter (1925-2008)
- Joseph Wharton, American industrialist (1826–1909)
- Philip Wharton, 1st Duke of Wharton, British Duke (1698-1731)
- Theodore Wharton, American film director (1875-1931)
- Jesse Wharton, American politician (1782-1833)
- David Wharton, American swimmer
- Leopold Wharton, American film director (1870-1927)
- Theo Wharton, association football player (born 1994)
- Vince Neil, American singer

## Similar surnames

Whorton, Warthen, Worthington, Warden, Worden, Wortham, Wortman, Worthen, Wroten, Wertman, Wertheimer, Worthing.

## 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.