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

Guest, 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 Guest surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Guest in America

Guest is the 3737th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Guest surname appeared 9,483 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Guest.

We can also compare 2010 data for Guest 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 Guest

The surname GUEST is of English origin, derived from the Old English word "gæst" meaning "stranger" or "guest". It emerged as a surname in the late 12th century and was typically given to people who were travelers, foreigners, or newcomers to a particular area.

The name GUEST is believed to have originated in the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex in eastern England, where many early records of the name can be found. One of the earliest recorded examples is in the Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire from 1273, where a Robert le Gest is mentioned.

In the 13th and 14th centuries, the name appeared in various spellings such as Gest, Ghest, Geste, and Gist, reflecting the regional variations in pronunciation and spelling at the time. The Domesday Book of 1086 does not contain any direct references to the surname GUEST, but it does include the Old English word "gæst" in some place names, such as Gestingthorpe in Essex.

Notable individuals with the surname GUEST throughout history include:

1. Edmund Guest (1518-1576), an English Protestant reformer and Bishop of Rochester from 1560 to 1576.
2. John Guest (1722-1787), an English industrialist and entrepreneur who founded the Dowlais Ironworks in Wales.
3. Lady Charlotte Guest (1812-1895), an English translator best known for her translation of the medieval Welsh folk tales known as the Mabinogion.
4. Walter John Baptist Guest (1838-1923), a British engineer and industrialist who pioneered the development of the Bessemer steel process in South Wales.
5. Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959), an American poet and writer who was popular in the early 20th century and became known as the "People's Poet".

The surname GUEST has also been associated with several place names, such as Guest's Farm in Dorset and Guest's Park in Shropshire, reflecting the historical presence of families bearing this name in various parts of England.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Guest

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

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

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

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