Bingham last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Bingham

A locational surname referring to someone from one of several places named Bingham in England, meaning "homestead of Binga's people."

Bingham, 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 Bingham surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bingham in America

Bingham is the 1360th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bingham surname appeared 25,941 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 9 people would have the surname Bingham.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bingham 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 1360 1332 2.08%
Count 25,941 24,327 6.42%
Proportion per 100k 8.79 9.02 -2.58%

The history of the last name Bingham

The surname Bingham is of Anglo-Saxon origin, derived from the Old English words "binnan" meaning "within" and "ham" meaning "homestead" or "village". It likely originated as a place name referring to someone who lived within a particular village or settlement.

The earliest recorded instance of the name Bingham can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is listed as "Binghame" and "Bingheham", referring to locations in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire. These place names likely gave rise to the surname, as it was common for people to take their last names from the towns or villages they lived in.

One of the earliest known bearers of the surname Bingham was Sir Richard Bingham, who lived in the 13th century and was a prominent landowner in Nottinghamshire. Another notable figure was Sir John Bingham (c. 1400-1460), a Member of Parliament and Sheriff of Nottinghamshire during the Wars of the Roses.

In the 16th century, the Bingham family became prominent landowners in Dorset, with Richard Bingham (c. 1528-1599) serving as Sheriff of Dorset and Somerset. His son, Sir Richard Bingham (1564-1657), was a notable military figure who served as Governor of Connaught in Ireland.

The 17th century saw the rise of George Bingham (1616-1668), a Parliamentarian officer during the English Civil War, and his son George Bingham (1668-1723), who became a wealthy landowner and Member of Parliament.

Other notable individuals with the surname Bingham include Hiram Bingham III (1875-1956), the American explorer and academic who rediscovered the Incan city of Machu Picchu in 1911, and Barry Bingham Sr. (1872-1923), an American judge and newspaper publisher who owned The Courier-Journal and The Louisville Times.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bingham

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

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 Bingham was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 82.00% 21,272
Non-Hispanic Black Only 12.70% 3,295
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.46% 119
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.67% 174
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 1.89% 490
Hispanic Origin 2.29% 594

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 Bingham has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 82.00% 84.32% -2.79%
Black 12.70% 11.93% 6.25%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.46% 0.38% 19.05%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.67% 0.56% 17.89%
Two or More Races 1.89% 1.42% 28.40%
Hispanic 2.29% 1.39% 48.91%

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

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

Reference this page

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"Bingham last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 2, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/bingham-surname-popularity/.

"Bingham last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/bingham-surname-popularity/. Accessed 2 December, 2024

Bingham last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/bingham-surname-popularity/.

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