Bedford

8,676 people in the United States were counted with the surname Bedford in the 2020 census, making it the 3,963rd most common in the country. That is about one person in 34,500.

By the numbers

People: 8,676
Rank: 3,963rd
How common: 1 in 34,500
Per 100,000: 2.9

Where the name comes from

From Middle English Bedforde, Bedeford, from Old English Bedaford, Bedanford, equivalent.

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

Who bears the name

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

White, not Hispanic 62.9%
Black, not Hispanic 27.5%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 4.4%
Hispanic or Latino 3.7%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.8%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.7%

Notable people called Bedford

Sybille Bedford (1911–2006)writer
David Bedford (1937–2011)English composer and musician
Barbara Bedford (1903–1981)American actress
Gunning Bedford Jr. (1747–1812)American politician
Marie Bedford (1907–1997)swimmer
James Bedford (1893–1967)American psychologist
Brian Bedford (1935–2016)British actor
William Bedford (born 1963)American basketball player

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

Surnames like Bedford

Also a first name

Bedford has been given to 1,240 American babies as a first name since 1880, peaking in 1924. 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.