Green

415,664 people in the United States were counted with the surname Green in the 2020 census, making it the 42nd most common in the country. That is about one person in 719.

By the numbers

People: 415,664
Rank: 42nd
How common: 1 in 719
Per 100,000: 139.1

Where the name comes from

Origin Middle English

English surname, a topographic name for someone who either lived near a village green, or was just fond of the colour. This name is also translated from other surnames, such as German Grün and Gruen, Dutch Groen, Irish Ó hUainí (from uaine, see Honan), etc. The Irish surname was also erroneously translated from Ó Fathaidh, Ó Fathaigh, from faithche (“lawn”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Who bears the name

How people with the surname Green described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:

White, not Hispanic 54.5%
Black, not Hispanic 35.8%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 4.7%
Hispanic or Latino 3.8%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.6%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.6%

Notable people called Green

Eva Green (born 1980)French actress
John Green (born 1977)American author and vlogger
CeeLo Green (born 1975)American singer, songwriter, rapper, actor and record producer
Robert Green (born 1980)English association football player
Seth Green (born 1974)American actor
Julien Green (1900–1998)American author
Peter Green (1946–2020)British blues rock guitarist
Draymond Green (born 1990)American basketball player

People named Green with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).

Surnames like Green

Also a first name

Green has been given to 2,033 American babies as a first name since 1880, peaking in 1927. See it as a given name.

Try it on yourself

Source: US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Surnames, 2020. The Census describes the file as the surnames borne by 100 or more people; rarer names are not published. The line is not quite exact, and 617 published names come in under it, the smallest at 92 people. Race and Hispanic origin are self-reported. Rates are worked out against the 298.9 million people the file's own figures are calculated on, which is fewer than the census counted in all: the difference is everyone whose surname was too rare to publish.