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

Woodworth, 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 Woodworth surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Woodworth in America

Woodworth is the 3782nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Woodworth surname appeared 9,361 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 Woodworth.

We can also compare 2010 data for Woodworth 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 Woodworth

The surname Woodworth is an English locational name derived from the Old English words 'wudu' meaning wood and 'worð' meaning an enclosure or homestead. It originates from places called Woodworth in Lancashire and Norfolk, England, suggesting that the earliest bearers of this name hailed from these areas.

The name Woodworth first appeared in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Wodewrde' and 'Wodeword', referring to landowners or tenants in various counties across England. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is Richard de Woodworth, who is mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Norfolk in 1199.

In the 13th century, the name Woodworth is found in various records, such as the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273, where it appears as 'Wodewrth' and 'Wudewurth'. During this period, the spelling of the name varied greatly, with variations like 'Wodword', 'Woodewurth', and 'Woodeworth' appearing in different records.

Notable individuals with the surname Woodworth include John Woodworth (1590-1668), a prominent English politician who served as a Member of Parliament for Stafford from 1628 to 1629. Another early bearer of the name was Arthur Woodworth (1642-1712), an English clergyman and author who wrote several religious works.

In the 18th century, James Woodworth (1720-1783) was a prominent English architect who designed several notable buildings in London, including the Royal Academy of Arts and the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

During the American Revolutionary War, Samuel Woodworth (1757-1826) was a soldier and writer who is best known for his poem "The Old Oaken Bucket". He was born in Scituate, Massachusetts, and his family's ancestry can be traced back to early English settlers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Another notable figure was John Woodworth (1768-1858), an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States Representative from New York from 1819 to 1823. He was born in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and was a descendant of one of the earliest Woodworth settlers in the American colonies.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Woodworth

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

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

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