Handy

13,656 people in the United States were counted with the surname Handy in the 2020 census, making it the 2,586th most common in the country. That is about one person in 21,900.

By the numbers

People: 13,656
Rank: 2,586th
How common: 1 in 21,900
Per 100,000: 4.6

Where the name comes from

Origin a nickname

Originating as a nickname for a handy person.

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

Who bears the name

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

White, not Hispanic 53.0%
Black, not Hispanic 35.9%
Hispanic or Latino 5.5%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 4.5%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.8%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.4%

Notable people called Handy

W. C. Handy (1873–1958)American blues composer and musician
James Handy (1945–2026)American actor
Charles Handy (1932–2024)Irish economist
Jam Handy (1886–1983)American swimmer and water polo player, Olympic bronze medalist, educational film producer

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

Surnames like Handy

Also a first name

Handy has been given to 543 American babies as a first name since 1880, peaking in 1916. 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.