# Wolfe (surname)

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

A surname transferred from the given name of English and German origin, a variant of Wolf.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 83,928 |
| US rank (2010) | 374 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 3,679 people |
| Change since 2000 | +1.0% (83,112 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Who carries it

Share of people named Wolfe 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) | 91% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 3.6% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.1% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.4% |
| Two or more races | 1.7% |

## Where

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

## People named Wolfe

- Thomas Wolfe, American writer
- Tom Wolfe, American author and journalist (1930–2018)
- James Wolfe, British Army officer (1727–1759)
- Gene Wolfe, American science fiction and fantasy writer (1931–2019)
- Whitney Wolfe Herd, American businesswoman
- Madison Wolfe, American actress
- Chelsea Wolfe, American singer-songwriter
- Ian Wolfe, American actor (1896-1992)
- Collette Wolfe, American actress
- Julia Wolfe, American composer (born 1958)
- Rowland Wolfe, American gymnast (1914–2010)
- George C. Wolfe, American playwright (born 1954)

and 8 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Wolf, Wolff, Woolf, Wulf, Wulff, Wilby.

## 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.