Spence Last Name Popularity, Meaning and Origin

In this article we'll look at the origin and meaning of the surname Spence and how popular it is in the United States. We'll also look at the race and ethnic origin of people in the United States who are named Spence.

Spence, like all of the 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 Spence surname is from the 2010 census data.

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Where Does Spence Rank in the Most Common U.S. Names?

According to the data, Spence is ranked #964 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

The Spence surname appeared 36,129 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 12.25 would have the surname Spence.

We can also compare 2010 data for Spence 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 964 928 3.81%
Count 36,129 34,435 4.80%
Proportion per 100k 12.25 12.76 -4.08%

Race and Ethnic Origin of People with the Last Name Spence

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

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: "White only", "Black only", "American Indian and Alaskan Native only", "Asian and Pacific Islander only", "Two or More Races", and "Hispanic".

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Spence was:

  • 72.23%, or 26,096 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic White Only".
  • 21.74%, or 7,854 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic Black Only".
  • 0.61%, or 220 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only".
  • 0.55%, or 199 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native".
  • 2.13%, or 770 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races".
  • 2.73%, or 986 total occurrences, were "Hispanic Origin".

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 Spence has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 72.23% 75.73% -4.73%
Black 21.74% 19.67% 10.00%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.61% 0.46% 28.04%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.55% 0.58% -5.31%
Two or More Races 2.13% 1.74% 20.16%
Hispanic 2.73% 1.81% 40.53%

Data Source(s)

All of the data on this page is sourced from the Decennial Census survey, from the United States Census Bureau.

Link To or Reference This Page

We spent a lot of time 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!

  • "Spence Last Name Popularity, Meaning and Origin". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 28, 2024. https://namecensus.com/last-names/spence-surname-popularity/.

  • "Spence Last Name Popularity, Meaning and Origin". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/spence-surname-popularity/. Accessed 28 March, 2024

  • Spence Last Name Popularity, Meaning and Origin. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/last-names/spence-surname-popularity/.