Find out how popular the last name Ainsworth is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Ainsworth.

Ainsworth, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Ainsworth surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ainsworth in America

Ainsworth is the 3874th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ainsworth surname appeared 9,149 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Ainsworth.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ainsworth to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Ainsworth

The surname Ainsworth originates from England and dates back to the early medieval period. It is a locational name derived from the Old English words "ān" meaning "one" and "worth" meaning "an enclosed settlement or homestead." The name likely refers to a single farm or homestead located in one of the villages or towns named Ainsworth.

The earliest known record of the surname Ainsworth appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a census and survey of landowners and properties in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The Domesday Book contains entries for individuals with the name Aineswrde and Ainesworde, which are early spellings of Ainsworth.

In the 13th century, the surname Ainsworth was documented in various records, including the Pipe Rolls of Lancashire in 1246, where a person named Adam de Aynsworth was mentioned. The name was also recorded in the Subsidy Rolls of Lancashire in 1332, which listed a John de Aynsworth.

One of the earliest known instances of the surname Ainsworth is found in the chronicles of the Cistercian Abbey of Whalley in Lancashire, where a monk named Richard Ainsworth was recorded in the late 14th century.

Over the centuries, the surname Ainsworth has been associated with several notable individuals, including:

1. William Harrison Ainsworth (1805-1882), an English historical novelist and writer best known for his novels "Rookwood" and "The Tower of London."

2. Ralph Ainsworth (1698-1773), an English Unitarian minister and educator who established a dissenting academy in Bolton, Lancashire.

3. Robert Ainsworth (1660-1743), an English lexicographer and compiler of dictionaries, including the influential "Thesaurus Linguae Latinae Compendiarius."

4. John Ainsworth (1556-1622), an English religious reformer and one of the earliest separatists from the Church of England, who advocated for congregational church governance.

5. Henry Ainsworth (1571-1622), an English Nonconformist Brownist minister and Hebraist, known for his annotations on the Pentateuch and the Book of Psalms.

The surname Ainsworth has also been associated with various place names in England, such as the town of Ainsworth in Greater Manchester, which was historically part of Lancashire. The name has also been recorded in different spellings, including Aynsworth, Ainesworth, and Aynswrth, reflecting the variations in pronunciation and spelling throughout history.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ainsworth

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Ainsworth.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Ainsworth was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Ainsworth has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Ainsworth was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Ainsworth, please contact us.

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