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

Bruce, 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 Bruce surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bruce in America

Bruce is the 636th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bruce surname appeared 53,419 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 18 people would have the surname Bruce.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bruce 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 Bruce

The surname BRUCE is of Norman-French origin and derives from the Old French word bruis or brix, meaning a brook or stream. This name originates from the village of Brix in Normandy, France and first appeared in written records following the Norman conquest of England in 1066.

The name is believed to have been introduced to Britain by one of the Norman knights who accompanied William the Conqueror during the invasion. This Norman knight likely originated from the village of Brix and took on the surname BRUCE after settling in his newly acquired lands in England.

The earliest recorded instance of the BRUCE surname appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is listed as de Brus or de Bruis. This entry refers to Robert de Brus, a Norman landowner who held estates in Yorkshire and Cleveland.

Over the centuries, the BRUCE surname spread across various regions of Britain, with notable bearers of the name including Robert the Bruce (1274-1329), the famous Scottish king who secured Scotland's independence from England at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

Other prominent individuals with the BRUCE surname include Edward Bruce (1275-1318), King Robert's brother and a renowned military leader, and David Bruce (1324-1371), a Scottish king and the last male descendant of the House of Bruce to rule Scotland.

In Scotland, the name is often associated with the historic town of Lochmaben, where the ancestral seat of the Bruce family, Lochmaben Castle, was located. The town's name is derived from the Gaelic words loch and maban, meaning a loch or lake named after a person called Maban.

In the United States, one of the earliest recorded instances of the BRUCE surname dates back to the 17th century, with the arrival of William Bruce, a Scottish immigrant who settled in Virginia in 1650. Another notable American bearer of the name was David Bruce (1770-1824), a Scottish-American soldier and politician who served as the Governor of Virginia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bruce

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

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

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

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