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

Saint, 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 Saint surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Saint in America

Saint is the 15442nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Saint surname appeared 1,897 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 Saint.

We can also compare 2010 data for Saint 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 Saint

The surname SAINT has its origins in medieval England and France, derived from the Old French word "saint" meaning "holy" or "saint". It was originally used as a descriptive term or nickname for someone who was particularly pious or devout, or perhaps lived near a church dedicated to a saint.

The earliest recorded use of the surname dates back to the 12th century, when it appeared in the Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire, referring to a certain Robert le Seint. Around the same time, it was also found in the Domesday Book of 1086, as the place name "Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives" in Normandy, France.

In the 13th century, the name was recorded in various spellings such as "Seint", "Seynt", and "Saynt" in various records and manuscripts across England and France. It was often associated with place names like "Sainte-Mère-Église" in Normandy or "Saint-Pierre" in Guernsey.

One of the earliest notable bearers of the surname was Sir Roger de Sancto Edmundo (Saint Edmund), a 13th-century English nobleman who fought in the Barons' War against King Henry III. Another was John Saint, a 15th-century English priest and scholar who served as Provost of King's College, Cambridge.

During the 16th century, the surname gained prominence with Sir William Saint, a wealthy merchant and landowner from Bedfordshire, England (c. 1490-1559). His descendants included Sir William Saint (1561-1635), a Member of Parliament and Lord Chief Justice of England.

In the 17th century, Captain John Saint (1620-1690) was a notable English sea captain and privateer who fought against the Dutch and Spanish during the Anglo-Dutch Wars and the War of the Grand Alliance.

Other notable bearers of the surname include the English author and philosopher George Edward Moore (1873-1958), who was born George Edward SAINT and later dropped the "SAINT" part of his name, and the American actor and director Eva Marie SAINT (1924-present), who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1955.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Saint

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

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

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

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