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

Ballew, 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 Ballew surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ballew in America

Ballew is the 4514th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ballew surname appeared 7,857 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 Ballew.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ballew 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 Ballew

The surname Ballew is of English origin, believed to have originated in the county of Cornwall during the medieval period. It is thought to be a variant of the Cornish place name Baylew or Baylieu, which is derived from the Cornish words "bay" meaning hill and "lew" meaning locus or place.

According to historical records, one of the earliest documented instances of the name can be found in the Cornish Subsidy Rolls of 1327, where a William de Baylew is listed as a taxpayer in the village of St. Columb Major. The name also appears in various manorial records and parish registers from the 14th to 16th centuries, with spellings such as Baylew, Baylieu, and Bayloe.

During the late 16th century, the surname began to spread beyond Cornwall as people migrated to other parts of England. One notable figure bearing the name was John Ballew (c. 1545-1620), a merchant and alderman of the city of Bristol. His descendants can be traced through various records, including wills and parish registers.

In the 17th century, a branch of the Ballew family settled in the county of Hertfordshire, where they were landowners and farmers. A notable member of this line was Thomas Ballew (1633-1705), whose memorial can be found in the parish church of St. Michael and All Angels in Bishops Stortford.

Another significant historical figure with the surname Ballew was Sir Edward Ballew (1688-1768), a Member of Parliament for the borough of Arundel in Sussex. He was a wealthy landowner and influential figure in local politics.

By the 18th and 19th centuries, the Ballew surname had spread across England and even into parts of Scotland and Ireland, where it is sometimes spelled Balloo or Ballough. One notable Scottish bearer of the name was Archibald Ballew (1792-1857), a successful merchant and shipowner based in Glasgow.

Throughout its history, the surname Ballew has had numerous spelling variations, including Baylew, Baylieu, Bayloe, Balloo, Ballough, and Ballue, reflecting the regional dialects and the inconsistencies in record-keeping and spelling conventions of earlier times.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ballew

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

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 Ballew 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 Ballew 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 Ballew was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!