Huggins last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Huggins

Derived from the medieval personal name "Hugg" or "Hugh," meaning "heart," "mind," or "spirit."

Huggins, 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 Huggins surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Huggins in America

Huggins is the 1602nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Huggins surname appeared 22,371 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 8 people would have the surname Huggins.

We can also compare 2010 data for Huggins 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 1602 1538 4.08%
Count 22,371 21,499 3.98%
Proportion per 100k 7.58 7.97 -5.02%

The history of the last name Huggins

The surname Huggins has its origins in England, dating back to the 12th century. It is believed to be a patronymic name derived from the Old English personal name "Hugging," which itself is a diminutive form of the name "Hugh." The name Hugh, in turn, comes from the Germanic name "Hugi," meaning "heart, mind, or soul."

Huggins is an anglicized version of the Norman French surname "Huguenin," which was brought to England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The name Huguenin was a diminutive form of the name "Hugues," the French equivalent of the English name "Hugh."

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Huggins surname can be found in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire from 1191, where a person named William Hugenis is mentioned. The Hundred Rolls of 1273 also contain references to individuals with the surname Huggins or variations such as Hugyn and Hoggon.

In the 14th century, the Huggins surname appeared in various records across England, including the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379, which listed a John Hogon. The Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk from 1381 mentioned a William Hogon, and the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire from 1327 included a John Huggon.

Notable individuals with the surname Huggins throughout history include:

  1. Sir William Huggins (1696-1761), an English merchant and Member of Parliament for Malmesbury from 1727 to 1761.
  2. William Huggins (1824-1910), an English astronomer who pioneered the use of spectroscopy in astronomy and was a co-discoverer of the planet Uranus.
  3. Margaret Lindsay Huggins (1848-1915), an Irish-English scientific investigator and the wife of William Huggins, who made significant contributions to the field of astrophysics.
  4. Samuel Huggins (1811-1885), an English architect known for his designs of several churches and other buildings in Worcestershire.
  5. David Huggins (born 1962), an American painter and alleged alien abductee, known for his paintings depicting his claimed encounters with extraterrestrials.

The surname Huggins has also been associated with various place names, such as Huggins Farm in Wiltshire and Huggins Mill in Virginia, USA, which may have derived their names from individuals bearing the Huggins surname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Huggins

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

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 Huggins was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 66.29% 14,830
Non-Hispanic Black Only 27.01% 6,042
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.54% 121
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 1.14% 255
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 2.27% 508
Hispanic Origin 2.76% 617

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 Huggins has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 66.29% 68.66% -3.51%
Black 27.01% 26.21% 3.01%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.54% 0.33% 48.28%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 1.14% 1.15% -0.87%
Two or More Races 2.27% 1.90% 17.75%
Hispanic 2.76% 1.75% 44.79%

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

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

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"Huggins last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 11, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/huggins-surname-popularity/.

"Huggins last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/huggins-surname-popularity/. Accessed 11 December, 2024

Huggins last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/huggins-surname-popularity/.

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