# Wheat (surname)

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

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 10,979 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,290 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 28,121 people |
| Change since 2000 | +1.1% (10,855 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

English surname, probably from the noun wheat. Another sense meaning "bold, active, brave" is derived from Old English hwettan (“to encourage, embolden, sharpen”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Wheat 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) | 82% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 13% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 2.2% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Wheat in the United States.

## People named Wheat

- Zack Wheat, American baseball player
- Alan Wheat, American politician

## Similar surnames

White, Wood, Wade, Wyatt, Witt, Waite, Woody, Whitt, Watt, Witte, Weed, Whyte.

## 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.