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

Gold, 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 Gold surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gold in America

Gold is the 1928th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gold surname appeared 18,698 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 6 people would have the surname Gold.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gold 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 Gold

The surname Gold is of English origin, derived from the Old English word "golde," which referred to the precious metal. The name likely originated as a descriptive nickname for someone with golden hair or a fair complexion, or possibly as an occupational name for a goldsmith or someone involved in the gold trade.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname Gold date back to the late 12th century. In the Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire from 1192, there is a reference to a person named Golde de Salfleteby, indicating the presence of the surname in England during this time period.

Throughout the Middle Ages, variations of the name such as Golde, Goold, and Gould can be found in various records and documents. For example, the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire from 1327 mention a John Goolde, and the Subsidy Rolls of Sussex from 1332 include a Thomas Golde.

One of the earliest known bearers of the surname was Sir John Gold, a prominent English landowner and Member of Parliament who lived in the 14th century. He was born in Lincolnshire around 1320 and served as the Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1361.

Another notable historical figure with the surname Gold was John Gold, a 16th-century English Protestant martyr. He was born in Somersetshire in the early 1500s and was burned at the stake in London in 1555 for his religious beliefs during the Marian Persecutions.

In the 17th century, Thomas Gold was an English politician and Member of Parliament for Taunton from 1640 to 1653. He played an active role in the English Civil War and was a supporter of the Parliamentarian cause.

Nathaniel Gold, born in 1655 in Topsfield, Massachusetts, was an early American settler and one of the founders of the town of Stratford, Connecticut. He served as a magistrate and was involved in the local government of the colony.

Another prominent American with the surname Gold was Thomas Gold, a 19th-century British-American astronomer and author. He was born in 1920 in Cambridge, England, and later emigrated to the United States, where he worked as a professor at Cornell University and made significant contributions to the study of astrophysics.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gold

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

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

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

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