Burns

159,111 people in the United States were counted with the surname Burns in the 2020 census, making it the 162nd most common in the country. That is about one person in 1,879.

By the numbers

People: 159,111
Rank: 162nd
How common: 1 in 1,879
Per 100,000: 53.2

Where the name comes from

As a Scottish surname, from several places such as Burnis, Burnes, Burnhouse, containing the noun burn (“stream”).

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

Who bears the name

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

White, not Hispanic 77.4%
Black, not Hispanic 13.9%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 3.9%
Hispanic or Latino 3.4%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.7%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.7%

Notable people called Burns

Robert Burns (1759–1796)Scottish poet and lyricist
George Burns (1896–1996)American comedian, actor, writer and singer
Nathan Burns (born 1988)Australian association football player
Ken Burns (born 1953)American documentarian and filmmaker
Edward Burns (born 1968)American actor and director
Richard Burns (1971–2005)British rally driver
William J. Burns (born 1956)American diplomat
Anna Burns (born 1962)Northern Irish writer

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

Surnames like Burns

Also a first name

Burns has been given to 584 American babies as a first name since 1886, peaking in 1920. 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.