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

Gathright, 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 Gathright surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gathright in America

Gathright is the 19834th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gathright surname appeared 1,355 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 Gathright.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gathright 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 Gathright

The surname GATHRIGHT is believed to have originated in England, with records dating back to the 16th century. It is thought to be derived from the Old English words "gaedran" and "riht," meaning "to gather" and "right" or "property," respectively. This suggests the name may have referred to a gatherer or collector of rents or taxes.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the 1598 parish records of St. Mary's Church in Warwick, where a John Gathright was listed as a resident. Similar spellings from that period include Gathryte, Gatheright, and Gatheright.

The name seems to have been particularly prevalent in the counties of Warwickshire and Staffordshire, although it eventually spread to other parts of England. In the 17th century, a Thomas Gathright (1625-1690) was a prominent landowner and merchant in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.

Moving into the 18th century, a notable bearer of the name was Robert Gathright (1710-1785), a wealthy cotton merchant from Manchester who was involved in the early industrialization of the textile industry.

In the 19th century, the name gained some prominence in the United States, where it was likely brought by English immigrants. One notable American was William Gathright (1820-1898), a farmer and landowner from Virginia who served as a captain in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

Another significant figure was John Gathright (1867-1940), a lawyer and politician from Arkansas who served as the state's attorney general from 1925 to 1927.

Other individuals of note with the surname GATHRIGHT include James Gathright (1885-1972), an English footballer who played for several clubs in the early 20th century, and Robert Gathright (1912-1987), an American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Gathright Corporation, a successful construction company based in Virginia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gathright

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!