2000
#13,058
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,151
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.80
Rare Last name
Starbuck
An English occupational surname for someone who worked as a clerk or an officer of the Star Chamber court.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 2,428 Americans carry the last name Starbuck. That puts it at #13,714 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.71 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 141,167 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Starbuck 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 Starbuck with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
2.4K
1 in 141,167
Census rank
#13,714
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.7
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
2.1K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 2,117 bearers of the surname Starbuck in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.71 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 13714th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Starbuck, the largest self-reported group is White at 89.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.5%) and Hispanic (3.6%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Starbuck
The surname Starbuck is believed to have originated in England during the late medieval period. It is thought to be derived from the Old English words "steor" meaning steer or dairy bull, and "bucc" meaning a male deer or buck. The name likely referred to someone who worked with cattle or dairy animals.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the Starbuck surname can be found in the Subsidy Rolls of Cambridgeshire from 1327, where a William Sterbuck is mentioned. Similar spellings such as Sterbuck, Sturbuck, and Sterbucke were common in early records.
The Starbuck name appears in various historical documents over the centuries, including the Hearth Tax Rolls of 1674 for Yorkshire, where several Starbuck households are listed. The name is also found in parish records from the 16th and 17th centuries in counties like Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire.
A notable early bearer of the name was Edward Starbuck (c. 1615-1690), an early settler of Nantucket Island in Massachusetts. He was born in Derbyshire, England, and emigrated to the American colonies in the 1630s. His descendants played a significant role in the whaling industry on Nantucket.
Another prominent Starbuck was Henry Starbuck (1766-1834), a Quaker minister and philanthropist from Yorkshire, England. He was active in various social causes, including the abolition of slavery and the promotion of education.
In the literary world, the name Starbuck gained fame through the character of Starbuck, the first mate in Herman Melville's novel "Moby Dick" (1851). The character's name is thought to have been inspired by the Nantucket whaling family.
Other notable individuals with the Starbuck surname include Charles C. Starbuck (1822-1900), an American politician and lawyer from Ohio, and Sir Walter Starbuck (1878-1958), a British naval officer who served in both World Wars.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Starbuck
Among Census respondents with the surname Starbuck, the largest self-reported group is White at 89.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.5%) and Hispanic (3.6%).
The bar chart below shows how Starbuck 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 Starbuck surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.6% · 1,897
- Two or more races4.5% · 96
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 77
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 13
- Black or African American0.5% · 11
Timeline
Historical Census data for Starbuck
Starbuck 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
#13,349
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,284
+133 bearers (+6.2%)
Per 100,000 0.77
Rank movement Down 291 places
2020
#13,714
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,117
-167 bearers (-7.3%)
Per 100,000 0.71
Rank movement Down 365 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #13,058 | 2,151 | 0.80 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #13,349 | 2,284 | 0.77 | +133 bearers (+6.2%) | Down 291 places |
| 2020 | #13,714 | 2,117 | 0.71 | -167 bearers (-7.3%) | Down 365 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 Starbuck 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 | #13,349 | #13,714 | -2.7% |
| Count | 2,284 | 2,117 | -7.3% |
| Per 100K | 0.77 | 0.71 | -8.0% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Starbuck bearers went from 2,284 to 2,117 (-7.3% change). The surname moved down 365 positions in the national ranking, going from #13,349 to #13,714.
FAQ
Starbuck surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Starbuck?
Name Census estimates that about 2,428 living Americans carry the surname Starbuck. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 141,167 residents.
How common is Starbuck?
Starbuck ranks #13,714 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.71 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 2,117 people with the surname Starbuck. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (2,428), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.71 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.71 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 Starbuck.
Has Starbuck become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Starbuck went from 2,284 recorded bearers to 2,117. That is a decrease of 167 (-7.3%). In the national ranking it fell from #13,349 to #13,714.
What does the Census say about the background of Starbuck?
Among Census respondents with the surname Starbuck, the largest self-reported group is White at 89.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.5%) and Hispanic (3.6%). 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 Starbuck in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.6% (1,897 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Starbuck appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (89.6%), Two or More Races (4.5%), Hispanic (3.6%). 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 Starbuck (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 Starbuck mean?
An English occupational surname for someone who worked as a clerk or an officer of the Star Chamber court. 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 Starbuck (0.71 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 Starbuck?
Want to know how many people are called Starbuck? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.