Burgess

70,718 people in the United States were counted with the surname Burgess in the 2020 census, making it the 456th most common in the country. That is about one person in 4,227.

By the numbers

People: 70,718
Rank: 456th
How common: 1 in 4,227
Per 100,000: 23.7

Where the name comes from

Origin a common noun

By proprialization from burgess, which is from Anglo-Norman burgeis (“town-dweller”); more at burgess.

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

Who bears the name

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

White, not Hispanic 72.6%
Black, not Hispanic 18.0%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 4.4%
Hispanic or Latino 3.3%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.9%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.8%

Notable people called Burgess

Anthony Burgess (1917–1993)English writer and composer
Guy Burgess (1911–1963)British-born radio producer, intelligence and Foreign Office officer and double agent
Cameron Burgess (born 1995)Australian-Scottish association football player
Colin Burgess (1946–2023)Australian musician
Ian Burgess (1930–2012)British racing driver
Ernest Burgess (1886–1966)American sociologist
Michael C. Burgess (born 1950)American politician
Tituss Burgess (born 1979)American actor and singer

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

Surnames like Burgess

Also a first name

Burgess has been given to 1,089 American babies as a first name since 1884, peaking in 1922. 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.