2000
#373
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 76,625
First available Census row
Per 100,000 28.40
Uncommon Last name
Ramsey
Derived from a place name meaning "island of wild garlic" in Old English, or "son of Rams" in Norse.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 85,621 Americans carry the last name Ramsey. That puts it at #434 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 24.98 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 4,003 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Ramsey 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 Ramsey with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
86K
1 in 4,003
Census rank
#434
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
25.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
75K
uncommon in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 74,666 bearers of the surname Ramsey in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 24.98 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 434th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Ramsey, the largest self-reported group is White at 75.0%. The next largest groups are Black (15.9%) and Two or More Races (4.4%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Ramsey
The surname Ramsey is of English origin, deriving from the Old English ram, meaning "ram", and ey, meaning "island" or "flat land near a river". It is a locational name, referring to a place where rams were raised or grazed.
The earliest recorded instance of the name dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as "Ramesie" in reference to the town of Ramsey in Huntingdonshire. This settlement was established in the 7th century by St. Felix, a Burgundian missionary, who founded a Benedictine abbey there.
In the 12th century, the name was recorded as "Ramesy" and "Rameseye" in the Pipe Rolls of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. Over time, the spelling evolved to its modern form, Ramsey.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Sir John Ramsey, a Scottish knight who fought alongside Robert the Bruce in the Wars of Scottish Independence in the early 14th century. He was granted lands in Lothian for his service.
Another notable figure was Thomas Ramsey, a 16th-century English churchman who served as the Abbot of St. Mary's Abbey in York. He was born in the early 1500s and played a role in the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII.
In the 17th century, James Ramsey, a Scottish mathematician and astronomer, made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics. He was born in 1690 and was a professor at the University of St. Andrews.
The 18th century saw the rise of Allan Ramsey, a renowned Scottish poet and writer who was a prominent figure in the Scottish Enlightenment. He was born in 1686 and is best known for his collection of pastoral poems, "The Gentle Shepherd".
In the 19th century, Sir William Ramsey, a British chemist and Nobel laureate, discovered several noble gases, including neon, krypton, and xenon. He was born in 1852 and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 for his pioneering work in the field of noble gases.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ramsey
Among Census respondents with the surname Ramsey, the largest self-reported group is White at 75.0%. The next largest groups are Black (15.9%) and Two or More Races (4.4%).
The bar chart below shows how Ramsey 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 Ramsey surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.0% · 55,980
- Black or African American15.9% · 11,894
- Two or more races4.4% · 3,273
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 2,604
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 458
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 457
Timeline
Historical Census data for Ramsey
Ramsey 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
#412
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 78,350
+1,725 bearers (+2.3%)
Per 100,000 26.56
Rank movement Down 39 places
2020
#434
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 74,666
-3,684 bearers (-4.7%)
Per 100,000 24.98
Rank movement Down 22 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #373 | 76,625 | 28.40 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #412 | 78,350 | 26.56 | +1,725 bearers (+2.3%) | Down 39 places |
| 2020 | #434 | 74,666 | 24.98 | -3,684 bearers (-4.7%) | Down 22 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 Ramsey 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 | #412 | #434 | -5.3% |
| Count | 78,350 | 74,666 | -4.7% |
| Per 100K | 26.56 | 24.98 | -5.9% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Ramsey bearers went from 78,350 to 74,666 (-4.7% change). The surname moved down 22 positions in the national ranking, going from #412 to #434.
Notable bearers
Famous people with the surname Ramsey
FAQ
Ramsey surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Ramsey?
Name Census estimates that about 85,621 living Americans carry the surname Ramsey. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 4,003 residents.
How common is Ramsey?
Ramsey ranks #434 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Uncommon." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 24.98 per 100,000 residents, which is about 25 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 74,666 people with the surname Ramsey. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (85,621), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 24.98 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 24.98 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 25 of them to have the surname Ramsey.
Has Ramsey become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Ramsey went from 78,350 recorded bearers to 74,666. That is a decrease of 3,684 (-4.7%). In the national ranking it fell from #412 to #434.
What does the Census say about the background of Ramsey?
Among Census respondents with the surname Ramsey, the largest self-reported group is White at 75.0%. The next largest groups are Black (15.9%) 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 Ramsey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.0% (55,980 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Ramsey appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (75.0%), Black (15.9%), 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 Ramsey (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 Ramsey mean?
Derived from a place name meaning "island of wild garlic" in Old English, or "son of Rams" in Norse. 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 Ramsey (24.98 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 common is the surname Ramsey?
If you just want to know how many people are called Ramsey, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.