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

Lankford, 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 Lankford surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Lankford in America

Lankford is the 3028th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lankford surname appeared 11,834 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Lankford.

We can also compare 2010 data for Lankford 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 Lankford

The surname Lankford is of English origin, deriving from the Old English words 'lanc' meaning long and 'ford' referring to a shallow place where a river or stream can be crossed. It likely originated as a place name for a location with a long ford, and over time, some individuals adopted it as their surname.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is listed as 'Lancaforde' in Oxfordshire. This suggests that the name was already in use by the late 11th century.

During the medieval period, variations of the name such as 'Lankford', 'Lanckford', and 'Lankeford' can be found in various historical records across different counties in England, indicating the name's spread throughout the country.

In the 16th century, a notable figure with this surname was John Lankford (c.1520-1592), an English clergyman who served as the Bishop of Lincoln from 1585 until his death.

Another early bearer of the name was Thomas Lankford (c.1570-1645), an English landowner and Member of Parliament for Southwark in the early 17th century.

During the English Civil War, Sir William Lankford (c.1610-1677) was a Royalist commander who fought for King Charles I and was later knighted for his service.

In the 18th century, Benjamin Lankford (1732-1798) was a prominent American planter and politician who served in the Virginia House of Burgesses and the Virginia Convention that ratified the United States Constitution.

Transitioning to the 19th century, John Cabell Lankford (1797-1868) was a Virginia lawyer and judge who served on the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals from 1858 to 1868.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lankford

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

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

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