Obee last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Obee

A topographic surname referring to someone who lived near a small stream or creek.

Obee, 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 Obee surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Obee in America

Obee is the 78040th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Obee surname appeared 245 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Obee.

We can also compare 2010 data for Obee 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 78040 68360 13.22%
Count 245 269 -9.34%
Proportion per 100k 0.08 0.10 -22.22%

The history of the last name Obee

The surname OBEE is believed to have originated in England, likely during the medieval period. It is thought to be a locational name, derived from a place name that no longer exists or has since been obscured by spelling changes over time.

One theory suggests that OBEE may have its roots in the Old English word "obbe," which means a ridge or a bank. This could indicate that the name originated from a place where the earliest bearers of the name lived near a ridgeline or a raised area of land.

Another possible origin is that OBEE is a variant spelling of the surname Obey, which is derived from the Old French name "Obbé," a diminutive of the Germanic name "Odo" or "Oddo." This name was brought to England after the Norman Conquest of 1066.

While there are no definitive records of the OBEE surname appearing in historical documents like the Domesday Book, some of the earliest known instances of the name can be found in parish records from the 16th and 17th centuries in various counties across England, including Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Nottinghamshire.

One of the earliest recorded individuals with the OBEE surname was William Obee, who was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1586. Another notable bearer of the name was John Obee, a merchant from Yorkshire, who lived from 1612 to 1688.

In the 18th century, a family by the name of Obee resided in the village of Foxton, Leicestershire. Among them was Edward Obee, born in 1723, who worked as a farmer and landowner in the area.

Moving into the 19th century, a prominent figure with the OBEE surname was William Obee (1811-1893), a British painter and illustrator known for his landscapes and scenes depicting rural life in England.

Another individual of note was Henry Obee (1843-1917), a renowned architect from Nottinghamshire who designed several notable buildings, including churches and public halls, across the East Midlands region of England.

While the OBEE surname is not among the most common in English-speaking countries, it has a long and rich history, tracing its origins back to medieval England and the various regions where its earliest bearers lived and worked.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Obee

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

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 Obee was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 72.24% 177
Non-Hispanic Black Only 22.86% 56
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 2.45% 6
Hispanic Origin 2.04% 5

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 72.24% 78.07% -7.76%
Black 22.86% 20.07% 13.00%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races 2.45% (S)% (S)%
Hispanic 2.04% (S)% (S)%

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

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

Reference this page

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"Obee last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on November 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/obee-surname-popularity/.

"Obee last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/obee-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 November, 2024

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

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