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

Torrance, 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 Torrance surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Torrance in America

Torrance is the 13023rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Torrance surname appeared 2,358 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 Torrance.

We can also compare 2010 data for Torrance 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 Torrance

The surname Torrance is of Scottish origin, originating from the lands of Torrance in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire. It is derived from the Gaelic words "torr" meaning a hill or mount, and "innis" meaning a peninsula or meadow.

The Torrance name can be traced back to the 12th century when a family of that name held lands in Lanarkshire. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the Ragman Rolls of 1296, which lists those who swore fealty to Edward I of England. An entry for "Willelmus de Torance" is found among the names.

In the 16th century, the Torrance family became prominent landowners in Lanarkshire. Records from this period show a Sir John Torrance of Campsie who lived in the late 1500s. Another notable figure was Sir Robert Torrance, who served as Lord Provost of Glasgow in the early 1600s.

The Torrance name is also found in various historical documents such as the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland from the 14th and 15th centuries, where the spelling variations "Torrans" and "Torrence" appear. The name is associated with the lands of Torrance near the village of Cambuslang, which was originally known as "Tor-an-inch" meaning the hill of the peninsula.

Among the famous individuals with the Torrance surname is Samuel Torrance (1712-1784), a Scottish merchant and writer who published several works on trade and commerce. Another notable figure is Sir David Torrance (1805-1865), a Scottish physician and inventor who developed the percussion cap for firearms.

In the literary world, Archibald Torrance (1873-1938) was a Scottish writer and poet known for his works on Scottish culture and history. More recently, Gene Torrance (1915-2003) was an American psychologist and educator renowned for his research on human intelligence and creativity.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Torrance

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources 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!