Orms last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Orms

A medieval surname derived from the Norman French "orm" meaning "ash tree".

Orms, 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 Orms surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Orms in America

Orms is the 74375th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Orms surname appeared 260 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 Orms.

We can also compare 2010 data for Orms 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 74375 68782 7.81%
Count 260 267 -2.66%
Proportion per 100k 0.09 0.10 -10.53%

The history of the last name Orms

The surname ORMS is of English origin, deriving from the Old English word "orm," which means "serpent" or "dragon." It is believed to have originated as a nickname or descriptive name, possibly referring to someone with a serpentine or wily character, or perhaps a person who had a snake-like appearance or movement.

The name can be traced back to the late 11th century, with records showing the earliest known spelling as "Orm" in the Domesday Book of 1086. This was a survey commissioned by William the Conqueror to record the landholdings and wealth of England. The entry mentions an individual named "Orm" who held lands in Nottinghamshire.

Over the centuries, the name evolved into various spellings, including Orme, Orms, and Ormes. One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname ORMS can be found in the Pipe Rolls of Norfolk from 1195, where a person named "William Orms" is mentioned.

Notable individuals with the surname ORMS throughout history include:

  1. Robert Orms (c. 1370-1430), an English priest and academic who served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford.
  2. John Orms (1576-1649), an English clergyman and writer who published several religious works in the early 17th century.
  3. William Orms (1675-1745), a British soldier and colonial administrator who served as Governor of the Leeward Islands from 1727 to 1734.
  4. Elizabeth Orms (1737-1815), an English writer and poet known for her romantic and nature-inspired works.
  5. Henry Orms (1810-1892), a British businessman and industrialist who founded the Orms and Hobbs engineering company in Manchester.

The name ORMS has also been associated with various place names throughout England, such as Ormskirk in Lancashire, which is derived from the Old Norse "Ormr-kirkja," meaning "church of Ormr" (a personal name). Similarly, the village of Ormesby in Yorkshire is believed to have its origins in the Old Norse "Ormr's by," meaning "Ormr's village."

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Orms

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

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 Orms was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 89.62% 233
Non-Hispanic Black Only 3.46% 9
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 (S)% (S)
Hispanic Origin 5.00% 13

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 89.62% 92.51% -3.17%
Black 3.46% (S)% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races (S)% (S)% (S)%
Hispanic 5.00% 4.12% 19.30%

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

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

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"Orms last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/orms-surname-popularity/.

"Orms last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/orms-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 December, 2024

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

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