How common is the surname Woods?

177,425 people in the United States had the surname Woods in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 1,740 Americans. It ranked 144th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Woods?

Tiger Woods, American golfer, followed by James Woods.

Where is the surname Woods most common?

Wikidata records people named Woods in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom and 1 other country.

How do you pronounce Woods?

Woods is /wʊdz/, one syllable.

Is the surname Woods getting more or less common?

More common. 168,814 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 177,425 in 2010, up 5.1%.

The surname Woods

A patronymic surname, carried by 177,425 people in the United States.

Pronounced /wʊdz/ 1 syllable Soundex W320

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Woods is more common than 99.9% of them.

Origin

A topographic surname from Middle English, variant of Wood. Possibly patronymic.

Woods is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 177,425 people named Woods in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 1,740 Americans. That is up 5.1% since 2000, when the Census counted 168,814.

#144

rank among US surnames

177,425

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+5.1%

change since 2000 (was #133)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#135	Stevens	185,674	1,663
#136	Murray	184,910	1,670
#137	Ford	184,832	1,670
#138	Castro	184,134	1,677
#139	Marshall	183,922	1,679
#140	Owens	182,719	1,690
#141	Harrison	181,091	1,705

Who is named Woods

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

58% of people named Woods identified as white (not Hispanic), 35% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.7% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 58%
Black (not Hispanic) 35%
Two or more races 2.7%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.9%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Woodss

46 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Tiger Woods
American golfer, born 1975
James Woods
American actor, born 1947
Zach Woods
American actor, born 1984
Xavier Woods
American professional wrestler (born 1986)
Leona Woods
American nuclear physicist (1919–1986)
Ilene Woods
American actress and singer (1926-2010)
Bambi Woods
American pornographic actress, born 1955
Phil Woods
American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer (1931–2015)
Barbara Alyn Woods
American actress, born 1962
Granville Tailer Woods
American inventor, 1856–1910
Simon Woods
British actor and writer, born 1980
John C. Woods
American executioner (1911-1950)

Notable Woodss come mostly from the United States (38), Australia (4) and the United Kingdom (3).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Woods

Woodhouse

Woods has the Soundex code W320, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W320.

Questions

How common is the surname Woods?: 177,425 people in the United States had the surname Woods in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 1,740 Americans. It ranked 144th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Woods?: In the 2010 Census, 58% of people named Woods identified as white (not Hispanic), and 35% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Woods?: Tiger Woods, American golfer, followed by James Woods.
Where is the surname Woods most common?: Wikidata records people named Woods in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom and 1 other country.
How do you pronounce Woods?: Woods is /wʊdz/, one syllable.
What type of surname is Woods?: Woods is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Woods getting more or less common?: More common. 168,814 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 177,425 in 2010, up 5.1%.