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

Waddy, 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 Waddy surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Waddy in America

Waddy is the 15792nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Waddy surname appeared 1,844 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 Waddy.

We can also compare 2010 data for Waddy 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 Waddy

The surname Waddy is an English habitational name derived from the small village of Waddesdon in Buckinghamshire, England. The name Waddesdon itself is believed to have originated from the Old English words "wad" meaning "woad" and "dun" meaning "hill" or "down", referring to a hill where the woad plant was grown for dyeing textiles.

Records show that the surname Waddy first appeared in the late 12th century, with one of the earliest mentions being Adam de Wadesdone, recorded in the Curia Regis Rolls of Buckinghamshire in 1198. The name also appears in the Pipe Rolls of Berkshire in 1230 as Waddesdun.

In the 13th century, the spelling of the name evolved to its modern form of Waddy, as evidenced by a record of John Waddy in the Assize Rolls of Northamptonshire in 1279. During this period, the surname was primarily concentrated in the counties of Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, and Oxfordshire, where the village of Waddesdon and its surrounding areas were located.

One notable early bearer of the surname was Sir John Waddy, who was born in Buckinghamshire around 1430 and served as a Member of Parliament for the borough of Wycombe in 1472 and 1478. Another early figure was Thomas Waddy, a yeoman farmer born in Oxfordshire in 1541, who was recorded in the Muster Rolls of the county in 1583.

In the 17th century, the Waddy family spread to other parts of England, with records showing individuals bearing the name in London, Yorkshire, and Lancashire. One prominent member was Reverend Thomas Waddy, born in Yorkshire in 1668, who served as the Rector of St. Mary's Church in Beverley from 1703 until his death in 1737.

Other notable individuals with the surname Waddy include William Waddy (1766-1834), a British naval officer who served in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, and Sir John Waddy (1817-1892), a British lawyer and judge who served as a Baron of the Exchequer from 1875 to 1892.

While the surname Waddy originated in England, it has since spread to other parts of the world, including North America, Australia, and New Zealand, as a result of migration and immigration patterns over the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Waddy

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

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

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

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