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

Parent, 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 Parent surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Parent in America

Parent is the 3225th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Parent surname appeared 11,193 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 Parent.

We can also compare 2010 data for Parent 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 Parent

The surname PARENT is of French origin and dates back to the late medieval period in France. It is derived from the Old French word "parent" meaning "relative" or "kin." The name likely originated as a descriptive surname for someone who was closely related to a prominent family or had many relatives in a particular region.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the PARENT surname can be found in the Calendars of Inquisitions Post Mortem from the reign of King Edward III in England, where a John Parent is mentioned in the year 1388. This suggests that the name had already spread from France to England by the 14th century.

In France, the PARENT name appears in various historical records and manuscripts from the 15th century onwards. For example, a Guillaume Parent is recorded in the parish records of Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris in 1467. The name is also found in the tax rolls and census records of various regions in France during this period.

The PARENT surname is closely associated with the village of Parentis-en-Born in the Landes region of southwestern France. This place name is derived from the Latin word "parentes," meaning "parents" or "ancestors," and likely influenced the development of the surname in that area.

Notable historical figures with the PARENT surname include:

1. Pierre Parent (c. 1510-1563), a French Catholic theologian and writer from Paris.
2. Jacques Parent (1619-1690), a French Jesuit missionary who worked among the Huron and Iroquois tribes in Canada.
3. Antoine Parent (1666-1716), a French sculptor and architect active in Paris during the late Baroque period.
4. Marie-Aveline Parent (1735-1816), a French diarist and memoirist from Normandy, whose writings provide valuable insights into daily life during the French Revolution.
5. Joseph Parent (1827-1903), a French-Canadian politician and journalist who served as a member of the Canadian House of Commons.

The PARENT name has also been associated with various places and locations throughout history, such as the communes of Parent in the Puy-de-Dôme and Cantal departments of central France, and the hamlet of Parent in the Ardennes region of northeastern France.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Parent

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

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

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

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