# Wise (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/wise/  
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 | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 68,649 |
| US rank (2010) | 485 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 4,497 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.9% (66,738 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /waɪz/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Who carries it

Share of people named Wise 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) | 79% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 16% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.7% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Wise in the United States.

## People named Wise

- Robert Wise, American film director, film producer and film editor (1914–2005)
- Ray Wise, American actor
- David Wise, American freestyle skier
- Isaac Mayer Wise, American rabbi, editor and author (1819–1900)
- Stephen Samuel Wise, American rabbi (1874–1949)
- Kirk Wise, American film director
- Bob Wise, American politician (born 1948)
- DeWanda Wise, American actress
- Willie Wise, American basketball player
- Brownie Wise, American businesswoman (1913–1992)
- Jim Wise, American actor
- John Wise, American pioneer in the field of ballooning (1808-1879)

and 1 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Weis, Wiese, Weise, Wyse, Wike, Weiss, Weeks, Waugh, Wicks, Wick, Wyche, Weese.

## 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.