2000
#700
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 44,640
First available Census row
Per 100,000 16.55
Uncommon Last name
Prince
A surname referring to a ruler or someone who acted in a princely manner or had a regal bearing.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 53,381 Americans carry the last name Prince. That puts it at #724 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 15.57 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 6,421 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Prince surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
For British records, Name Census UK has a British surname profile for Prince with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
53K
1 in 6,421
Census rank
#724
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
15.6
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
47K
uncommon in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 46,551 bearers of the surname Prince in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 15.57 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 724th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Prince, the largest self-reported group is White at 62.7%. The next largest groups are Black (26.5%) and Two or More Races (4.4%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Prince
The surname PRINCE is of English origin, derived from the Old French word "prince," which means "ruler" or "sovereign." It first appeared in England during the Norman Conquest in the 11th century.
The name PRINCE was likely bestowed upon someone who held a position of authority or leadership, perhaps a nobleman or a high-ranking military officer. It could also have been used as a descriptive nickname for someone who exhibited regal or princely qualities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name PRINCE can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which documented landowners and their holdings in England after the Norman Conquest. The entry mentions a landowner named Radulfus Princeps, which translates to Ralph the Prince.
In the 12th century, a noble family known as the Princes of Gwynedd ruled over parts of Wales. They traced their lineage back to Owain Gwynedd, a powerful Welsh prince who lived from 1100 to 1170 and fought against the Norman invaders.
Another notable bearer of the name PRINCE was John Prince, a 17th-century English writer and scholar who was born in 1588 and died in 1646. He is best known for his work "Worthies of Devon," which chronicled the lives of notable individuals from the county of Devon.
During the English Civil War (1642-1651), a Royalist military leader named Thomas Prince fought for King Charles I. He was born in 1600 and died in 1673, and his actions earned him the nickname "the Worthy Prince."
In the 18th century, a prominent American family with the surname PRINCE included Thomas Prince (1687-1758), a minister and historian in Boston, and his son Nathan Prince (1698-1748), who served as a minister in Hull, Massachusetts.
Throughout history, the surname PRINCE has been associated with individuals who held positions of leadership, authority, and nobility, reflecting its regal connotations and origins in Old French.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Prince
Among Census respondents with the surname Prince, the largest self-reported group is White at 62.7%. The next largest groups are Black (26.5%) and Two or More Races (4.4%).
The bar chart below shows how Prince bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Prince surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.7% · 29,206
- Black or African American26.5% · 12,325
- Two or more races4.4% · 2,057
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 2,052
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 517
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 394
Timeline
Historical Census data for Prince
Prince appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#743
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 47,168
+2,528 bearers (+5.7%)
Per 100,000 15.99
Rank movement Down 43 places
2020
#724
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 46,551
-617 bearers (-1.3%)
Per 100,000 15.57
Rank movement Up 19 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #700 | 44,640 | 16.55 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #743 | 47,168 | 15.99 | +2,528 bearers (+5.7%) | Down 43 places |
| 2020 | #724 | 46,551 | 15.57 | -617 bearers (-1.3%) | Up 19 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Prince surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #743 | #724 | 2.6% |
| Count | 47,168 | 46,551 | -1.3% |
| Per 100K | 15.99 | 15.57 | -2.6% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Prince bearers went from 47,168 to 46,551 (-1.3% change). The surname moved up 19 positions in the national ranking, going from #743 to #724.
Notable bearers
Famous people with the surname Prince
FAQ
Prince surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Prince?
Name Census estimates that about 53,381 living Americans carry the surname Prince. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 6,421 residents.
How common is Prince?
Prince ranks #724 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Uncommon." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 15.57 per 100,000 residents, which is about 16 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 46,551 people with the surname Prince. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (53,381), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 15.57 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 15.57 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 16 of them to have the surname Prince.
Has Prince become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Prince went from 47,168 recorded bearers to 46,551. That is a decrease of 617 (-1.3%). In the national ranking it rose from #743 to #724.
What does the Census say about the background of Prince?
Among Census respondents with the surname Prince, the largest self-reported group is White at 62.7%. The next largest groups are Black (26.5%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Prince in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.7% (29,206 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Prince appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (62.7%), Black (26.5%), Two or More Races (4.4%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Prince (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Prince mean?
A surname referring to a ruler or someone who acted in a princely manner or had a regal bearing. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Prince (15.57 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people are called Prince?
Want to know how many people have the last name Prince? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.