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

Guthrie, 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 Guthrie surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Guthrie in America

Guthrie is the 1095th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Guthrie surname appeared 31,956 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 11 people would have the surname Guthrie.

We can also compare 2010 data for Guthrie 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 Guthrie

The surname Guthrie originated from the Scottish Borders region and has its roots in an Old English word, "gūð", meaning battle or war, and "rīc", meaning rich or powerful. This suggests that the name may have initially been a descriptive one, referring to a person who was skilled or successful in battle.

The earliest recorded instance of the name Guthrie can be found in the Ragman Rolls of 1296, where it appears as "Guthry" and "Guthery". This historical document contains the names of Scottish landowners who swore allegiance to King Edward I of England during the Wars of Scottish Independence.

In the 14th century, the Guthrie family established themselves as landowners in the county of Angus, Scotland. One notable figure from this time was Sir David Guthrie (c. 1330-1400), who served as Lord High Treasurer of Scotland under King Robert III.

The name Guthrie is also associated with the parish of Guthrie in Angus, which likely derived its name from the Guthrie family who held lands in the area. This connection to a specific place further solidified the surname's use and significance.

During the 16th century, the Guthrie family continued to play a prominent role in Scottish history. James Guthrie (1612-1661) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister and one of the most influential religious leaders of the Covenanting movement. He was executed for his opposition to the religious policies of King Charles II.

Another notable figure was John Guthrie (1659-1730), a Scottish philosopher and writer who authored several works on natural philosophy and ethics, including "A Treatise on the Circle and the Hyperbolic Curves" and "A System of Moral Philosophy".

In the literary world, Thomas Anstey Guthrie (1856-1934) was a British novelist and playwright, best known for his humorous novels such as "Vice Versa" and "The Tinted Venus".

The surname Guthrie has also been carried by individuals in other fields, such as Woody Guthrie (1912-1967), an American folk singer and songwriter who had a significant influence on the American folk music revival of the 1960s.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Guthrie

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Guthrie, 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!