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

Umphres, 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 Umphres surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Umphres in America

Umphres is the 127494th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Umphres surname appeared 134 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 Umphres.

We can also compare 2010 data for Umphres 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 Umphres

The surname Umphres has its origins in the medieval Anglo-Saxon culture that once thrived in areas of Britain. It is believed to have derived from the Old English words "un" meaning "above" and "frere" meaning "brother", suggesting the name may have originally referred to an eldest sibling or a religious leader of a monastic order.

The earliest known recording of the name dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as "Unfredus" in Somerset county records. Other early spellings included Umfrey, Umphrey, and Umphry. Over time, the name evolved into its modern form, Umphres, particularly in regions of northern England.

In the 13th century, historical records mention a William Umphres who served as a knight under King John. His descendants established themselves in Northumberland, where the Umphres family held lands and a modest estate near the village of Alnwick.

During the Wars of the Roses in the 15th century, a notable figure was Sir Robert Umphres, a loyal supporter of the House of Lancaster. He fought alongside Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, and was later rewarded with a knighthood and a manor in Yorkshire.

In the 16th century, the Umphres surname spread across the British Isles, with several branches establishing themselves in Scotland and Ireland. One prominent Scotsman was James Umphres (1523-1597), a renowned scholar and philosopher who taught at the University of Glasgow.

Over the centuries, the Umphres name has been associated with various locations, including the village of Umphres in Lancashire, Umphres Hill in Derbyshire, and Umphres Bridge in County Donegal, Ireland. These place names likely originated from early Umphres settlers or landowners in those areas.

Notable individuals with the surname Umphres include Sir Thomas Umphres (1675-1742), a wealthy merchant and Member of Parliament in London, and Elizabeth Umphres (1789-1867), a pioneering educator who established one of the first schools for girls in Philadelphia, United States.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Umphres

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Umphres, 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!