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

Delaware, 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 Delaware surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Delaware in America

Delaware is the 46811th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Delaware surname appeared 454 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Delaware.

We can also compare 2010 data for Delaware 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 Delaware

The surname Delaware is an English toponymic surname derived from the place name Delaware, which refers to the Delaware River and Delaware Bay region. The name Delaware itself is derived from the name of an Indigenous Algonquian tribe, the Lenape or Delaware people, who inhabited the region.

The earliest recorded use of the surname Delaware dates back to the late 16th century, shortly after the colonization of the Delaware Valley region by English settlers. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this surname was William Delaware, who was born in England in 1597 and later emigrated to Virginia Colony in the early 1600s.

Another notable early bearer of the surname was Sir Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, who served as the first colonial governor of Virginia from 1610 to 1618. Although his family name was West, he was often referred to as Lord Delaware or Lord De La Warr, due to his title and association with the Delaware region.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the surname Delaware was primarily found in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, particularly in the states of Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, where many early settlers with the name had established themselves.

One prominent figure with the surname Delaware was Thomas Delaware, an American Revolutionary War soldier and officer who served in the Continental Army. He was born in Philadelphia in 1747 and fought in several major battles, including the Battle of Trenton and the Battle of Princeton.

Another notable individual was John Delaware, an American author and poet born in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1828. He wrote several works of poetry and prose, including the book "Legends of the Delaware Valley."

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the surname Delaware began to spread more widely across the United States and other parts of the English-speaking world, as descendants of the original Delaware settlers migrated to new regions.

One example is Mary Delaware, an American educator and suffragist born in Ohio in 1857. She was an advocate for women's rights and played an important role in the early women's suffrage movement in the United States.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Delaware

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

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

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

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