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

Wadsworth, 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 Wadsworth surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Wadsworth in America

Wadsworth is the 3588th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Wadsworth surname appeared 9,912 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Wadsworth.

We can also compare 2010 data for Wadsworth 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 Wadsworth

The surname Wadsworth is of English origin, derived from a combination of the Old English words "wad" meaning "ford" or "river crossing" and "worth" meaning "enclosure" or "estate." It originally referred to someone who lived near a ford or river crossing on an estate or enclosed area.

The earliest recorded instances of the Wadsworth surname can be traced back to the 13th century in various counties across England, including Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Derbyshire. The name was particularly prevalent in the West Riding of Yorkshire, where it is believed to have originated from the village of Wadsworth, near Hebden Bridge.

One of the earliest documented references to the Wadsworth name can be found in the Subsidy Rolls of Yorkshire from 1297, which lists a "John de Waddesworth." The name also appears in the Lay Subsidy Rolls for Wiltshire in 1332, where it is recorded as "Walterus de Waddesworth."

In the late 14th century, the Wadsworth family gained prominence in the area around Haworth, West Yorkshire, with records showing a John Wadsworth holding lands there in 1379. Another notable figure was Thomas Wadsworth (c. 1630-1670), a Puritan minister and one of the founders of the town of Milton, Massachusetts, in the early days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

During the English Civil War, Captain Joseph Wadsworth (1610-1675) was a prominent military officer who fought for the Parliamentarian forces. He later became a landowner and magistrate in Massachusetts. His son, Benjamin Wadsworth (1670-1737), was the first president of Harvard College (now Harvard University) from 1725 to 1737.

Other famous individuals with the Wadsworth surname include the English poet and playwright James Wadsworth (1572-1623), whose works include "The English Spanish Pilgrim" and "The Present Estate of Spayne." In the 19th century, James Samuel Wadsworth (1807-1864) was a prominent American lawyer, politician, and philanthropist from New York.

The Wadsworth name has also been associated with several notable places throughout history. For example, the village of Wadsworth in West Yorkshire, which dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086, where it was recorded as "Wadreswrde." Additionally, there is a Wadsworth Falls State Park in Connecticut, named after the Wadsworth family who owned land in the area in the 18th century.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Wadsworth

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

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

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

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