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

Pound, 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 Pound surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Pound in America

Pound is the 10046th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Pound surname appeared 3,206 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Pound.

We can also compare 2010 data for Pound 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 Pound

The surname Pound is of English origin and dates back to the medieval period. It is derived from the Old English word "pund," which referred to an enclosure or pound for confining stray animals. As a surname, it likely originated as a topographic name for someone who lived near such an enclosure or worked as a keeper of the pound.

The earliest recorded instances of the name Pound can be found in various medieval records, such as the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273, where a Richard de la Punde is mentioned in Oxfordshire. The Domesday Book of 1086 also contains references to places with names like Pundestoc and Pundfald, which are believed to be related to the surname.

In the 13th century, the name appeared in various forms, including Pund, Pound, and Punde, reflecting the evolving spelling conventions of the time. One notable early bearer of the name was John Pound, a member of the English Parliament who represented Somerset in 1325.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the surname Pound became more widespread across England. Notable individuals with this surname include Ezra Pound, an influential American poet and critic born in 1885, and Sir Jonathon Pound, a British naval officer and explorer who was born in 1768 and played a crucial role in the colonization of Australia.

Other notable figures bearing the Pound surname include Jesse Pound, an American politician and lawyer born in 1853, and Roscoe Pound, a renowned legal scholar and educator who served as the Dean of Harvard Law School and was born in 1870.

In addition to these individuals, the surname Pound has been associated with various place names, such as Poundbury in Dorset and Poundstock in Cornwall, further reflecting its topographic origins.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Pound

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

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

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

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