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

Dunning, 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 Dunning surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Dunning in America

Dunning is the 3330th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Dunning surname appeared 10,784 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Dunning.

We can also compare 2010 data for Dunning 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 Dunning

The surname Dunning originated from the Old English word "dun", meaning a hill or low ridge. It was a topographic name given to someone who lived on or near a hill. The name is derived from the place name Dunning, a village in Perthshire, Scotland, whose name is formed from the same Old English word.

The earliest recorded use of the surname Dunning dates back to the 13th century in Scotland. One of the earliest references to the name can be found in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, which mention a John de Dunyn in 1293. The name also appears in the Ragman Rolls of 1296, a collection of homage letters to Edward I of England, where it is spelled as Dounyng.

In England, the name is found in various records, including the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire in 1327, where it is recorded as Dunnyng. The Hundred Rolls of 1273 also mention a Thomas de Dunninges in Oxfordshire.

One of the earliest known bearers of the surname was William Dunning, a Scottish landowner who lived in the 14th century. He was granted lands in Dunning, Perthshire, by King David II of Scotland in 1362.

Another notable person with the name was Sir John Dunning (1731-1783), an English lawyer and politician. He served as Solicitor General for England and Wales from 1768 to 1770 and was later appointed Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.

In the United States, one of the earliest recorded individuals with the surname Dunning was John Dunning, who was born in England in 1616 and immigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638. He later settled in Newbury, Massachusetts.

Other notable individuals with the surname Dunning include:

1. Samuel Newton Dunning (1838-1922), an American lawyer and politician who served as Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court.
2. Annie Hart Dunning (1847-1935), an American educator and author who founded the New York Cooking School.
3. Albert Elijah Dunning (1857-1923), an American artist and illustrator known for his depictions of American Indian life.
4. William Archibald Dunning (1857-1922), an American historian and professor at Columbia University.
5. John Dunning (1942-2011), an English writer and expert on crime fiction, best known for his reference works on the genre.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Dunning

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

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

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

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