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    The surnameWilliams

    A surname, the 3rd most common in the United States.

    Pronounced /ˈwɪli.əmz/ 2 syllables Soundex W452 Also a first name

    Williams: #3 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Williams #3, 1,625,252 people Williams: #3 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Williams #3, 1,625,252 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Williams is more common than 99.9% of them.

    Origin

    Variant of William with genitival or post-medieval excrescent -s.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 1,625,252 people named Williams in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 190 Americans. That is up 5.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 1,534,042.

    #3
    rank among US surnames
    1,625,252
    people in 2010
    551
    per 100,000 Americans
    +5.9%
    change since 2000 (was #3)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #1Smith2,442,977126
    #2Johnson1,932,812160
    #3Williams1,625,252190
    #4Brown1,437,026215
    #5Jones1,425,470217
    #6Garcia1,166,120265
    #7Miller1,161,437266

    Who is named Williams

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

    48% of people named Williams identified as Black (not Hispanic), 46% as white (not Hispanic) and 2.8% as two or more races.

    • Black (not Hispanic) 48%
    • White (not Hispanic) 46%
    • Two or more races 2.8%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.5%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.8%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

    Compare: most common surnames among Black Americans.

    Famous Williamss

    412 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Robin Williams
      American actor and comedian (1951–2014)
    • Serena Williams
      American tennis player (born 1981)
    • Tennessee Williams
      American playwright (1911–1983)
    • Venus Williams
      American tennis player (born 1980)
    • Jody Williams
      American teacher and aid worker, born 1950
    • Sunita Williams
      American astronaut and naval officer, born 1965
    • Hank Williams
      American singer-songwriter (1923–1953)
    • Michelle Williams
      American actress (born 1980)
    • Hayley Williams
      American singer, born 1988
    • William Carlos Williams
      American poet (1883-1963)
    • Maisie Williams
      British actress (born 1997)
    • Vanessa Williams
      American actress, singer and former Miss America (born 1963)

    Notable Williamss come mostly from the United States (359), the United Kingdom (24) and Australia (15).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Williams

    Williams has the Soundex code W452, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W452.

    Questions

    Where does the surname Williams come from?
    Variant of William with genitival or post-medieval excrescent -s.
    How common is the surname Williams?
    1,625,252 people in the United States had the surname Williams in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 190 Americans. It ranked 3rd of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Williams?
    In the 2010 Census, 48% of people named Williams identified as Black (not Hispanic), and 46% as white (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Williams?
    Robin Williams, American actor and comedian (1951–2014), followed by Serena Williams.