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

Tarkington, 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 Tarkington surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Tarkington in America

Tarkington is the 16031st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Tarkington surname appeared 1,809 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 Tarkington.

We can also compare 2010 data for Tarkington 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 Tarkington

The surname Tarkington is of English origin, deriving from a place name. It is believed to have originated in the medieval period, possibly as early as the 11th century. The name is thought to come from the Old English words "torr" meaning "rocky hill" or "tor" and "ing" meaning "meadow" or "people of", suggesting it may have referred to people living near a rocky meadow or hill.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as "Torchinton". This entry refers to a location in Gloucestershire, which was likely the original place from which the surname derived. Over time, the spelling evolved to its current form of Tarkington.

In the 13th century, records show a William de Torkington living in Lancashire, indicating the name had spread to other parts of England by that time. Another early bearer of the name was John Tarkington, who was mentioned in the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire in 1327.

One notable figure with this surname was Booton Tarkington (1869-1946), an American novelist and dramatist. He was best known for his novels "The Magnificent Ambersons" and "Alice Adams", for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1919 and 1922, respectively.

Another individual of note was Sir Cedric Tarkington (1892-1953), a British diplomat and politician who served as Ambassador to Turkey from 1939 to 1944 and later as a Member of Parliament.

In the 16th century, the name appeared in the form of Tarkyngton, as seen in records of a John Tarkyngton who lived in Staffordshire in 1524.

The Tarkington family also had a presence in Scotland, with records showing a William Tarkington who was a merchant in Edinburgh in the late 17th century.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name in America was Thomas Tarkington, who was born in England in 1608 and later immigrated to Virginia in the 1630s.

These are just a few examples of the long history and varied backgrounds of individuals bearing the surname Tarkington, which has its roots in the medieval English landscape and has since spread across the English-speaking world.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Tarkington

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

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

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

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