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

Gentry, 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 Gentry surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gentry in America

Gentry is the 806th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gentry surname appeared 43,027 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 15 people would have the surname Gentry.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gentry 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 Gentry

The surname Gentry is of English origin and dates back to the 13th century. It is an occupational name derived from the Old French word "genterie", meaning "nobility" or "high birth". The name was initially given to individuals who were members of the gentry class, which was the class of people just below the nobility in the social hierarchy.

Gentry is a variant spelling of the word "gentry", which was originally used to refer to the landed gentry, a class of landowners who were not part of the nobility but still held a significant amount of wealth and social status. The earliest recorded use of the surname Gentry dates back to the 13th century, with records showing individuals with this name living in various parts of England, particularly in the counties of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Staffordshire.

In the 14th century, the name Gentry appeared in various historical records, including the Hundred Rolls of 1273, which were a survey of landholdings in England. One notable individual with the surname Gentry was Sir Robert Gentry, who was born in 1330 and served as a knight during the reign of Edward III.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the surname Gentry continued to be associated with individuals of high social standing. One notable example is Thomas Gentry, who was born in 1555 and served as a Member of Parliament for the borough of Stafford in 1597.

As the years passed, the surname Gentry spread beyond England and became established in other parts of the world, including the United States. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this surname in America was Samuel Gentry, who was born in Virginia in 1677.

Another notable individual with the surname Gentry was Meredith Poindexter Gentry, who was born in North Carolina in 1809 and served as a lawyer, politician, and brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

In more recent times, the surname Gentry has been carried by several notable individuals, including the American country music singer-songwriter Earl Eugene Gentry, better known by his stage name, Mickey Gilley, who was born in 1936. Additionally, Curt Gentry, an American author and historian who wrote several books on topics such as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, was born in 1931.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gentry

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

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

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

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