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

Ferries, 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 Ferries surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ferries in America

Ferries is the 81181st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ferries surname appeared 233 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 Ferries.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ferries 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 Ferries

The surname "FERRIES" originated in England during the medieval period. It is derived from the Old English words "feor" meaning far and "risc" meaning rushes, referring to people who lived near a distant reed bed or marsh. The earliest recorded spelling of the name was Ferriss in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire in 1273.

The name has several variations, including Ferris, Ferres, Ferres, and Feries, which were used interchangeably in early records. It is also believed to be related to the place name "Ferrieres" in Normandy, France, suggesting that some bearers of the name may have arrived in England after the Norman Conquest in 1066.

One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was William Ferris, who was mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Surrey in 1198. Another notable figure was Sir Ralph Ferres, a 14th-century English knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War against France.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ferries surname was particularly prevalent in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk in eastern England. In the 1600s, several members of the Ferries family were among the early Puritan settlers who emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in America, including Jeffrey Ferries, who arrived in Boston in 1635.

In the 18th century, John Ferries (1743-1826) was a prominent English naval officer who served during the American Revolutionary War and later became a Member of Parliament. Another notable bearer of the name was George Ferries (1797-1884), a Scottish engineer and inventor who patented several improvements to the steam engine.

Other historical figures with the Ferries surname include Walter Ferries (1839-1901), an English landscape painter, and James Ferries (1873-1957), a Scottish footballer who played for several clubs in the early 20th century.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ferries

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

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

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

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