Pond last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Pond

An English topographic surname referring to someone who lived near a pond or small body of water.

Pond, 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 Pond surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Pond in America

Pond is the 3930th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Pond surname appeared 9,052 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Pond.

We can also compare 2010 data for Pond 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 3930 3746 4.79%
Count 9,052 8,697 4.00%
Proportion per 100k 3.07 3.22 -4.77%

The history of the last name Pond

The surname POND originated in England in the 12th century. It is a topographic name, derived from the Old English word "pundern", meaning a small body of still water. The name likely referred to someone who lived near a pond or worked in an area with many ponds.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname POND appears in the Pipe Rolls of Warwickshire in 1195, with a reference to a person named John de la Punde. This early spelling suggests the name's connection to a pond or pool of water.

The Domesday Book, compiled in 1086, contains several place names that may have contributed to the surname POND, such as Ponden in Yorkshire and Ponden Clough in Lancashire. These place names potentially stem from the same Old English root as the surname.

In the 13th century, the name appeared in various forms, including Ponde, Punde, and Atteponde. The prefixes "de la" and "atte" indicated a person's association with a particular location, further reinforcing the name's topographic origin.

Notable individuals with the surname POND throughout history include:

  1. Samuel Pond (1600-1665), one of the founders of Windsor, Connecticut, and a prominent figure in the early settlement of New England.
  2. John Pond (1767-1836), an English astronomer and mathematician who served as the sixth Astronomer Royal from 1811 to 1835.
  3. Enoch Pond (1725-1807), an American clergyman and educator who served as the president of Hampton-Sidney College in Virginia from 1783 to 1787.
  4. Samuel William Pond (1818-1891), an American architect known for designing several notable buildings in San Francisco, including the Old Mint and the Palace Hotel.
  5. Arthur Channing Pond (1701-1758), a British-American merchant and politician who served as the Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Deputies from 1742 to 1744.

The surname POND has a rich history rooted in the topographic features of England, with its earliest recorded instances dating back to the 12th century. Over the centuries, it has been associated with various places, occupations, and notable individuals, reflecting the diverse origins and stories behind this English surname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Pond

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

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 Pond was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 90.97% 8,235
Non-Hispanic Black Only 2.17% 196
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 1.38% 125
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 1.16% 105
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 1.45% 131
Hispanic Origin 2.87% 260

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 90.97% 92.66% -1.84%
Black 2.17% 2.14% 1.39%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.38% 1.07% 25.31%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 1.16% 1.02% 12.84%
Two or More Races 1.45% 1.36% 6.41%
Hispanic 2.87% 1.75% 48.48%

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

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

"Pond last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on October 15, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/pond-surname-popularity/.

"Pond last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/pond-surname-popularity/. Accessed 15 October, 2024

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

Search for a name

Search for a first or last name to learn more about its origin, meaning, and more.

Simple as that.