2000
#14,096
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,959
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.73
Rare Last name
Waymire
Derived from a place name meaning "a bog or marsh" in Middle English, likely referring to someone living near such a location.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 2,259 Americans carry the last name Waymire. That puts it at #14,543 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.66 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 151,728 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Waymire surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
2.3K
1 in 151,728
Census rank
#14,543
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.7
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
2.0K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 1,970 bearers of the surname Waymire in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.66 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 14543rd position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Waymire, the largest self-reported group is White at 89.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.4%) and Hispanic (3.4%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Waymire
The surname Waymire is of German origin and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is believed to have originated in the region of Bavaria, where it was likely derived from a combination of the Old German words "weg" (meaning "way" or "path") and "mire" (meaning "marsh" or "swamp"). This suggests that the name may have referred to someone who lived near or worked on a marshy path.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in a 14th-century manuscript from the town of Augsburg, which mentions a certain "Hans Waymire" as a landowner in the area. The name also appears in several other historical documents from the region, often spelled as "Weymire" or "Weymyr".
In the 16th century, the name Waymire began to spread throughout Germany and neighboring countries, with various branches of the family settling in different regions. One prominent figure from this era was Johann Waymire (1523-1589), a Lutheran theologian and author who served as a professor at the University of Wittenberg.
As the name continued to disperse, it eventually made its way to other parts of Europe and eventually to the Americas. In the late 18th century, a man named Johann Christoph Waymire (1751-1823) emigrated from Germany to Pennsylvania, where he established one of the earliest known American branches of the Waymire family.
Other notable individuals with the surname Waymire include:
1. Wilhelm Waymire (1804-1876), a German-born American artist known for his landscape paintings.
2. Eliza Waymire (1835-1919), an American educator and suffragist who founded several schools for girls in Ohio.
3. Henry Waymire (1861-1938), a businessman and politician who served as the Mayor of Indianapolis, Indiana, from 1909 to 1913.
4. Gertrude Waymire (1879-1957), an American novelist and playwright whose works explored themes of rural life and social justice.
5. Walter Waymire (1900-1982), a professional baseball player who played for the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1920s.
While the name Waymire is not among the most common surnames globally, it has left a lasting mark on various aspects of history, from academia and the arts to politics and sports.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Waymire
Among Census respondents with the surname Waymire, the largest self-reported group is White at 89.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.4%) and Hispanic (3.4%).
The bar chart below shows how Waymire bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Waymire surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.5% · 1,763
- Two or more races5.4% · 107
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 67
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 15
- Black or African American0.6% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 7
Timeline
Historical Census data for Waymire
Waymire appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#14,458
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,066
+107 bearers (+5.5%)
Per 100,000 0.70
Rank movement Down 362 places
2020
#14,543
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,970
-96 bearers (-4.6%)
Per 100,000 0.66
Rank movement Down 85 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #14,096 | 1,959 | 0.73 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #14,458 | 2,066 | 0.70 | +107 bearers (+5.5%) | Down 362 places |
| 2020 | #14,543 | 1,970 | 0.66 | -96 bearers (-4.6%) | Down 85 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Waymire surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #14,458 | #14,543 | -0.6% |
| Count | 2,066 | 1,970 | -4.6% |
| Per 100K | 0.70 | 0.66 | -5.8% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Waymire bearers went from 2,066 to 1,970 (-4.6% change). The surname moved down 85 positions in the national ranking, going from #14,458 to #14,543.
FAQ
Waymire surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Waymire?
Name Census estimates that about 2,259 living Americans carry the surname Waymire. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 151,728 residents.
How common is Waymire?
Waymire ranks #14,543 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.66 per 100,000 residents, which is about 1 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 1,970 people with the surname Waymire. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (2,259), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.66 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.66 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 1 of them to have the surname Waymire.
Has Waymire become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Waymire went from 2,066 recorded bearers to 1,970. That is a decrease of 96 (-4.6%). In the national ranking it fell from #14,458 to #14,543.
What does the Census say about the background of Waymire?
Among Census respondents with the surname Waymire, the largest self-reported group is White at 89.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.4%) and Hispanic (3.4%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Waymire in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.5% (1,763 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Waymire appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (89.5%), Two or More Races (5.4%), Hispanic (3.4%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Waymire (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Waymire mean?
Derived from a place name meaning "a bog or marsh" in Middle English, likely referring to someone living near such a location. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Waymire (0.66 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many Americans have the surname Waymire?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.