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

Gettys, 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 Gettys surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gettys in America

Gettys is the 18584th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gettys surname appeared 1,483 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Gettys.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gettys 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 Gettys

The surname GETTYS is of Scottish origin, derived from the Old English word "get" or "geat," meaning a goat or kid. It is believed to have originated as a descriptive surname for someone associated with goats, such as a goatherd or a place where goats were kept.

The earliest recorded instances of the name can be traced back to the 13th century in various parts of Scotland, particularly in the counties of Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, and Renfrewshire. Some early variations of the spelling included Gettys, Getties, Gettie, and Gittis.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was John Gettys, a merchant in the town of Ayr, who is mentioned in a charter dated 1296. Another notable early figure was Sir Robert Gettys, a Scottish knight who fought alongside Robert the Bruce during the Wars of Scottish Independence in the early 14th century.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the GETTYS name spread to various parts of Scotland and beyond, with many families settling in the Scottish Lowlands and the Border regions. One prominent bearer of the name was John Gettys (1596-1665), a Scottish minister and theologian who served as the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1638.

In the 18th century, the GETTYS name found its way to England and Ireland, with some families migrating to these areas in search of new opportunities. One notable figure from this period was William Gettys (1730-1805), an Irish-born Presbyterian minister who served as the president of the University of Pennsylvania from 1782 to 1789.

As the GETTYS name spread across the British Isles, it also made its way to North America, with many families settling in various colonies and later in the United States and Canada. One prominent American bearer of the name was Thomas Gettys (1804-1891), a successful businessman and philanthropist from Philadelphia, who played a significant role in the development of the city's public education system.

Other notable individuals with the surname GETTYS include Sir Archibald Gettys (1835-1919), a Scottish industrialist and politician who served as Lord Provost of Glasgow from 1898 to 1905, and John Gettys (1909-1998), an American professional baseball player who played for the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1930s.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gettys

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

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

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

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