2000
#14,438
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,897
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.70
Rare Last name
Saint
A surname derived from the French word "saint" referring to an ancestor's saintliness, piety, or religious devotion.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 2,332 Americans carry the last name Saint. That puts it at #14,170 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.68 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 146,979 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Saint 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 Saint with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
2.3K
1 in 146,979
Census rank
#14,170
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.7
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
2.0K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 2,034 bearers of the surname Saint in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.68 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 14170th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Saint, the largest self-reported group is White at 75.6%. The next largest groups are Black (9.4%) and Hispanic (7.4%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of 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.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Saint
Among Census respondents with the surname Saint, the largest self-reported group is White at 75.6%. The next largest groups are Black (9.4%) and Hispanic (7.4%).
The bar chart below shows how Saint 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 Saint surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.6% · 1,538
- Black or African American9.4% · 191
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 151
- Two or more races4.3% · 87
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 52
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 15
Timeline
Historical Census data for Saint
Saint 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
#15,442
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,897
+0 bearers (+0.0%)
Per 100,000 0.64
Rank movement Down 1,004 places
2020
#14,170
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,034
+137 bearers (+7.2%)
Per 100,000 0.68
Rank movement Up 1,272 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #14,438 | 1,897 | 0.70 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #15,442 | 1,897 | 0.64 | +0 bearers (+0.0%) | Down 1,004 places |
| 2020 | #14,170 | 2,034 | 0.68 | +137 bearers (+7.2%) | Up 1,272 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 Saint 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 | #15,442 | #14,170 | 8.2% |
| Count | 1,897 | 2,034 | 7.2% |
| Per 100K | 0.64 | 0.68 | 6.3% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Saint bearers went from 1,897 to 2,034 (+7.2% change). The surname moved up 1,272 positions in the national ranking, going from #15,442 to #14,170.
Notable bearers
Famous people with the surname Saint
FAQ
Saint surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Saint?
Name Census estimates that about 2,332 living Americans carry the surname Saint. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 146,979 residents.
How common is Saint?
Saint ranks #14,170 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.68 per 100,000 residents, which is about 1 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 2,034 people with the surname Saint. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (2,332), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.68 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.68 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 1 of them to have the surname Saint.
Has Saint become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Saint went from 1,897 recorded bearers to 2,034. That is an increase of 137 (+7.2%). In the national ranking it rose from #15,442 to #14,170.
What does the Census say about the background of Saint?
Among Census respondents with the surname Saint, the largest self-reported group is White at 75.6%. The next largest groups are Black (9.4%) and Hispanic (7.4%). 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 Saint in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.6% (1,538 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Saint appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (75.6%), Black (9.4%), Hispanic (7.4%). 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 Saint (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 Saint mean?
A surname derived from the French word "saint" referring to an ancestor's saintliness, piety, or religious devotion. 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 Saint (0.68 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 Saint?
See how many people are called Saint on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.