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    The surnameWright

    An occupational surname, the 35th most common in the United States.

    Pronounced /ɹaɪt/ 1 syllable Soundex W623

    Wright: #35 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Wright #35, 458,980 people Wright: #35 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#1,000Archer Wright #35, 458,980 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Wright is more common than 99.9% of them.

    Origin

    English and Scottish occupational surname, from the archaic noun wright (“builder, maker”). Found as the second element of compounds such as Wainwright, Cartwright, etc.

    Wright is an occupational surname: named after the work an ancestor did.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 458,980 people named Wright in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 673 Americans. That is up 4.2% since 2000, when the Census counted 440,367.

    #35
    rank among US surnames
    458,980
    people in 2010
    156
    per 100,000 Americans
    +4.2%
    change since 2000 (was #34)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #26Sánchez612,752504
    #27Clark562,679549
    #28Ramirez557,423554
    #29Lewis531,781581
    #30Robinson529,821583
    #31Walker523,129590
    #32Young484,447637

    Who is named Wright

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

    66% of people named Wright identified as white (not Hispanic), 28% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as two or more races.

    • White (not Hispanic) 66%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 28%
    • Two or more races 2.4%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Wrights

    157 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Frank Lloyd Wright
      American architect (1867-1959)
    • Robin Wright
      American actress, born 1966
    • Teresa Wright
      American actress (1918–2005)
    • Richard Wright
      American novelist and poet (1908–1960)
    • Jeffrey Wright
      American actor (born 1965)
    • Joseph Wright of Derby
      18th-century British painter (1734–1797)
    • Haji Wright
      American soccer player (born 1998)
    • Will Wright
      American video game designer and entrepreneur (born 1960)
    • Steven Wright
      American comedian, born 1955
    • Sewall Wright
      American geneticist (1889-1988)
    • Bailey Wright
      Australian association football player, born 1992
    • Max Wright
      Actor from the United States (1943-2019)

    Notable Wrights come mostly from the United States (132), the United Kingdom (10) and Australia (9).

    Questions

    Where does the surname Wright come from?
    English and Scottish occupational surname, from the archaic noun wright (“builder, maker”). Found as the second element of compounds such as Wainwright, Cartwright, etc.
    How common is the surname Wright?
    458,980 people in the United States had the surname Wright in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 673 Americans. It ranked 35th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Wright?
    In the 2010 Census, 66% of people named Wright identified as white (not Hispanic), and 28% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Wright?
    Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (1867-1959), followed by Robin Wright.