Black

Black is the 175th most common surname in the United States, shared by 151,439 people at the 2020 census. That is about one person in 1,974.

By the numbers

People: 151,439
Rank: 175th
How common: 1 in 1,974
Per 100,000: 50.7

Where the name comes from

Origin a nickname

From Middle English blak (“black”). Also a variant of Blake, from Old English blāc (“pale”) and Blanc, from Old French blanc (“white”).

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

Who bears the name

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

White, not Hispanic 71.1%
Black, not Hispanic 19.3%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 4.3%
Hispanic or Latino 3.4%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 1.3%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.7%

Notable people called Black

Jack Black (born 1969)American actor, comedian, singer, musician and producer
Joseph Black (1728–1799)Scottish physicist and chemist
James Black (1924–2010)Scottish doctor and pharmacologist
Karen Black (1939–2013)American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter
Rebecca Black (born 1997)American singer
Tori Black (born 1988)American pornographic actress
Lucas Black (born 1982)American actor
Cara Black (born 1979)Zimbabwean tennis player

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

Surnames like Black

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.