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

Hereford, 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 Hereford surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Hereford in America

Hereford is the 13721st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Hereford surname appeared 2,206 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 Hereford.

We can also compare 2010 data for Hereford 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 Hereford

The surname Hereford originates from the city of Hereford in Herefordshire, England. It is an Anglo-Saxon locational name derived from the Old English words "here" meaning army and "fore" meaning a place where people travelled. The name refers to a ford where an army crossed over a river.

The earliest recorded spelling of the surname dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086 which contains references to individuals bearing names derived from Hereford. Some of the earliest examples include Hugo de Hereford listed in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire in 1166 and Henricus de Hereford recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire in 1195.

Notable historical figures with the surname Hereford include Roger de Hereford, a 13th-century Franciscan friar and philosopher who was born around 1215 and died in 1292. Another prominent bearer was Robert Hereford, a 14th-century English cleric and writer who lived from around 1305 to 1390.

Nicholas Hereford, an English scholar and one of the earliest translators of the Bible into English, was born around 1330 and died in 1420. Henry Hereford, a 15th-century English politician and landowner, lived from 1405 to 1479.

The surname Hereford also has connections to the historic cattle breed known as Hereford cattle, which originated in the county of Herefordshire in the late 18th century. One of the earliest breeders and pioneers of this breed was Benjamin Tomkins, who was born in 1719 and died in 1789.

While the surname Hereford has its roots in a specific English location, it has since spread throughout the English-speaking world, particularly to countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand due to migration and immigration over the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Hereford

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

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

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

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