Buckner last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Buckner

An English occupational surname for a person who kept or tended buckets or made buckets and other wooden vessels.

Buckner, 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 Buckner surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Buckner in America

Buckner is the 1434th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Buckner surname appeared 24,822 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 8 people would have the surname Buckner.

We can also compare 2010 data for Buckner 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 1434 1376 4.13%
Count 24,822 23,645 4.86%
Proportion per 100k 8.41 8.77 -4.19%

The history of the last name Buckner

The surname Buckner has its origins in England and can be traced back to the 12th century. The name is believed to have derived from the Old English words 'bucca' meaning a buck or male deer, and 'hyrde' meaning a herdsman or keeper. Thus, the name originally referred to someone who tended to deer or occupied a position related to deer hunting.

In the Domesday Book of 1086, a record of landowners and properties in England compiled by order of William the Conqueror, there are references to individuals with the name Bucknere and Bukenare, which are considered early variations of the modern spelling Buckner.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Buckner dates back to 1273, when a John Buckner was listed in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire, an ancient record of land ownership and taxation. The surname was also found in various other medieval records, such as the Pipe Rolls and the Subsidy Rolls, indicating its presence in various parts of England.

The name Buckner is believed to have originated in the county of Buckinghamshire, which was once known as Buckinghamscire or Buckinghamsyre. The county's name itself is derived from the Old English words 'Bucca' and 'ham', meaning 'the homestead of Bucca'. It is possible that the surname Buckner may have originated from this place name or from individuals who migrated from the county.

Notable individuals with the surname Buckner throughout history include Sir Thomas Buckner (c. 1555-1634), an English politician who served as a Member of Parliament for Buckinghamshire. Another prominent figure was William Buckner (1579-1642), an English clergyman who was appointed as the Bishop of Rochester in 1628.

In the United States, one of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Buckner is that of Samuel Buckner (1658-1718), who settled in Virginia in the late 17th century. His descendants include notable figures such as Alexander Buckner (1785-1833), a U.S. Representative from Missouri, and Simon Bolivar Buckner (1823-1914), a lieutenant general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

The Buckner surname has also been associated with various place names throughout England, such as Buckner's Heath in Buckinghamshire and Buckner's Farm in Hampshire. These place names may have originated from individuals with the surname Buckner who owned or resided in those areas.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Buckner

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

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 Buckner was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 67.41% 16,733
Non-Hispanic Black Only 26.51% 6,580
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.44% 109
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.89% 221
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 2.53% 628
Hispanic Origin 2.21% 549

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 67.41% 69.30% -2.76%
Black 26.51% 26.28% 0.87%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.44% 0.28% 44.44%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.89% 0.83% 6.98%
Two or More Races 2.53% 1.89% 28.96%
Hispanic 2.21% 1.41% 44.20%

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

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

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"Buckner last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 4, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/buckner-surname-popularity/.

"Buckner last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/buckner-surname-popularity/. Accessed 4 December, 2024

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

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