# Woodward (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/woodward/  
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 | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 36,764 |
| US rank (2010) | 944 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 8,398 people |
| Change since 2000 | +1.4% (36,242 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Occupational surname from woodward.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Woodward 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) | 90% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 4.8% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.7% |
| Two or more races | 1.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Woodward in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

## People named Woodward

- Joanne Woodward, American actress (born 1930)
- Robert Burns Woodward, American chemist
- Bob Woodward, American investigative journalist (born 1943)
- Edward Woodward, British actor (1930–2009)
- Shannon Woodward, American actress
- Morgan Woodward, American actor (1925-2019)
- Sandy Woodward, British admiral (1932-2013)
- Danielle Woodward, Australian canoeist
- C. Vann Woodward, American historian (1908-1999)
- Barbara Woodward, British diplomat
- Andy Woodward, American chess player
- Dani Woodward, American pornographic actress

and 6 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Woodard, Woodworth, Woodyard, Whitworth.

## 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.