2000
#10,357
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,849
First available Census row
Per 100,000 1.06
Rare Last name
Bury
An English locational surname referring to someone who lived in a fort or castle.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 3,093 Americans carry the last name Bury. That puts it at #11,213 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.90 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 110,816 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Bury surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
For British records, Name Census UK has a British surname profile for Bury with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
3.1K
1 in 110,816
Census rank
#11,213
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.9
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
2.7K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 2,697 bearers of the surname Bury in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.90 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 11213th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Bury, the largest self-reported group is White at 86.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.9%) and Two or More Races (4.7%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Bury
The surname "BURY" has its origins in England, where it first emerged in the medieval period. It is derived from the Old English word "burg," meaning a fortified town or borough. This suggests that the earliest bearers of this name were likely residents of a particular town or borough, or may have lived near one.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a comprehensive survey of landholdings in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. Here, the name is listed in various spellings, such as "de Burgo" and "atte Bury."
In the 13th century, there are records of individuals with the surname "Bury" residing in counties such as Suffolk, Norfolk, and Essex, which were home to numerous towns and boroughs at the time. This further reinforces the link between the name and its geographical origins.
Some notable individuals throughout history who bore the surname "Bury" include:
1. Richard de Bury (c. 1287 - 1345), an English philosopher, writer, and bibliophile who served as the Bishop of Durham and was a tutor to King Edward III.
2. John Bury (c. 1580 - 1667), an English Puritan and one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in America.
3. Bury St. Edmunds (1092 - 1224), an English monk and historian who wrote a chronicle of the abbeys of Bury St. Edmunds and Peterborough.
4. William Bury (1795 - 1866), an English civil engineer who designed and constructed several notable bridges, including the Ouse Bridge in Bedford.
5. J. B. Bury (1861 - 1927), an Irish historian and scholar who wrote extensively on the Byzantine Empire and ancient Greece.
The name "Bury" has also been associated with various place names throughout England, such as Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, which was once a significant monastic town, and Bury in Lancashire, which was an important mill town during the Industrial Revolution.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bury
Among Census respondents with the surname Bury, the largest self-reported group is White at 86.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.9%) and Two or More Races (4.7%).
The bar chart below shows how Bury bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Bury surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.5% · 2,332
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 133
- Two or more races4.7% · 127
- Black or African American2.4% · 66
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 9
Timeline
Historical Census data for Bury
Bury appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#11,296
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,796
-53 bearers (-1.9%)
Per 100,000 0.95
Rank movement Down 939 places
2020
#11,213
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,697
-99 bearers (-3.5%)
Per 100,000 0.90
Rank movement Up 83 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #10,357 | 2,849 | 1.06 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #11,296 | 2,796 | 0.95 | -53 bearers (-1.9%) | Down 939 places |
| 2020 | #11,213 | 2,697 | 0.90 | -99 bearers (-3.5%) | Up 83 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Bury surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #11,296 | #11,213 | 0.7% |
| Count | 2,796 | 2,697 | -3.5% |
| Per 100K | 0.95 | 0.90 | -5.0% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Bury bearers went from 2,796 to 2,697 (-3.5% change). The surname moved up 83 positions in the national ranking, going from #11,296 to #11,213.
FAQ
Bury surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Bury?
Name Census estimates that about 3,093 living Americans carry the surname Bury. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 110,816 residents.
How common is Bury?
Bury ranks #11,213 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.90 per 100,000 residents, which is about 1 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 2,697 people with the surname Bury. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (3,093), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.9 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.90 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 1 of them to have the surname Bury.
Has Bury become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Bury went from 2,796 recorded bearers to 2,697. That is a decrease of 99 (-3.5%). In the national ranking it rose from #11,296 to #11,213.
What does the Census say about the background of Bury?
Among Census respondents with the surname Bury, the largest self-reported group is White at 86.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.9%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Bury in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.5% (2,332 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Bury appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (86.5%), Hispanic (4.9%), Two or More Races (4.7%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Bury (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Bury mean?
An English locational surname referring to someone who lived in a fort or castle. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Bury (0.90 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people have the surname Bury?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.