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

Tench, 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 Tench surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Tench in America

Tench is the 26282nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Tench surname appeared 929 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Tench.

We can also compare 2010 data for Tench 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 Tench

The surname Tench is of English origin, deriving from an occupational name for someone who worked as a keeper of fishponds or someone who bred and sold tench fish. The name is derived from the Old English word "tenc," meaning "tench," which is a type of freshwater fish.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname Tench can be found in various tax rolls and legal documents from the 13th and 14th centuries. One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Roger Tench, who is mentioned in the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire in 1275.

The surname Tench is also associated with various place names in England, such as Tenchleybrok in Worcestershire and Tenches in Hertfordshire. These place names likely influenced the spelling variations of the surname, such as Tench, Tenche, and Tensh.

Among the notable individuals with the surname Tench throughout history are John Tench (c. 1600-1672), an English colonist and explorer who accompanied the first group of settlers to Virginia in 1607 and helped establish Jamestown Colony. Another prominent figure was Watkin Tench (1758-1833), a British marine officer and author who served in the First Fleet to Australia and wrote two seminal accounts of the early settlement of New South Wales.

In the 17th century, Thomas Tench (1591-1668) was an English clergyman and author who served as the vicar of Newick in Sussex. His son, Nathaniel Tench (1628-1692), was a renowned mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the field of optics.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Tench in official records is found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where a person named Godric Tench is listed as holding lands in Leicestershire.

Throughout the centuries, the Tench surname has continued to appear in various historical documents, church records, and manuscripts, solidifying its English origins and rich history.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Tench

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

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

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

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