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

Rockingham, 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 Rockingham surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Rockingham in America

Rockingham is the 76533rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Rockingham surname appeared 251 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Rockingham.

We can also compare 2010 data for Rockingham 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 Rockingham

The surname Rockingham originated in England, deriving from the place name Rockingham in Northamptonshire. The place name itself comes from the Old English words "rocc" meaning rock and "inga" meaning the people of, combined with "ham" meaning homestead or village. Thus, Rockingham refers to the village or homestead of the people by the rocks.

Rockingham was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Rochingham, an early spelling variation of the name. The town of Rockingham was mentioned in this great survey commissioned by William the Conqueror, indicating the name's antiquity.

One of the earliest known individuals with the Rockingham surname was Hugh de Rokingham, who was recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Northamptonshire in 1195. These rolls were financial records kept by the English Crown.

Another early bearer of the name was William de Rokingham, a 13th-century English chronicler and Franciscan friar who wrote the Chronica de Gestis Regum Anglorum, a chronicle of English kings up to the year 1307.

In the 14th century, John de Rokyngham was a prominent English judge who served as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1349 to 1356.

During the Tudor period, Edward Rockingham (c. 1499-1570) was a wealthy merchant and Lord Mayor of London in 1554-1555.

A notable figure in the 18th century was Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (1730-1782), a British statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1765 to 1766 and again in 1782. Although his family surname was originally Wentworth, he adopted the additional surname Rockingham upon inheriting the Rockingham estates.

The surname Rockingham has a long and distinguished history in England, with its roots dating back to the Norman Conquest and appearing in various records and chronicles over the centuries. The name's origins are firmly tied to the town of Rockingham in Northamptonshire, reflecting the importance of place names in the development of many English surnames.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Rockingham

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

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

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