Needham

10,723 people in the United States were counted with the surname Needham in the 2020 census, making it the 3,291st most common in the country. That is about one person in 27,900.

By the numbers

People: 10,723
Rank: 3,291st
How common: 1 in 27,900
Per 100,000: 3.6

Where the name comes from

Origin Old English

From Old English nīed (“need, necessity”) + hām (“homestead”), i.e.

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

Who bears the name

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

White, not Hispanic 86.5%
Black, not Hispanic 4.0%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 3.8%
Hispanic or Latino 3.3%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 1.3%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 1.2%

Notable people called Needham

Joseph Needham (1900–1995)British biochemist, historian and sinologist
Hal Needham (1931–2013)American stunt performer and film director
John Needham (1713–1781)English biologist and Roman Catholic priest
Col Needham (born 1967)English entrepreneur
Dorothy M. Needham (1896–1987)English biochemist
Matthew Needham (born 1984)British actor
James George Needham (1868–1957)American entomologist

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

Surnames like Needham

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.