Ames

Ames is the 1,666th most common surname in the United States, shared by 21,085 people at the 2020 census. That is about one person in 14,200.

By the numbers

People: 21,085
Rank: 1,666th
How common: 1 in 14,200
Per 100,000: 7.1

Who bears the name

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

White, not Hispanic 82.1%
Black, not Hispanic 7.5%
Hispanic or Latino 4.9%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 3.8%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 1.2%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.6%

Notable people called Ames

August Ames (1994–2017)Canadian pornographic actress
Aldrich Ames (1941–2026)CIA analyst and Soviet spy
Leon Ames (1902–1993)American actor
Bruce N. Ames (1928–2024)American biochemist
Fisher Ames (1758–1808)American politician
Adelaide Ames (1900–1932)American astronomer
Oakes Ames (1874–1950)American botanist
William Ames (1576–1633)English Protestant divine, philosopher, and controversialist

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

Surnames like Ames

Also a first name

Ames has been given to 1,865 American babies as a first name since 1913, peaking in 2023. 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.