Phelps

Phelps is the 664th most common surname in the United States, shared by 50,090 people at the 2020 census. That is about one person in 5,967.

By the numbers

People: 50,090
Rank: 664th
How common: 1 in 5,967
Per 100,000: 16.8

Where the name comes from

Origin a given name

From Philip + genitive (mainly patronymic) suffix.

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

Who bears the name

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

White, not Hispanic 81.8%
Black, not Hispanic 9.5%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 4.1%
Hispanic or Latino 3.4%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.7%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.5%

Notable people called Phelps

Michael Phelps (born 1985)American swimmer
Edmund Phelps (1933–2026)American economist
Fred Phelps (1929–2014)American pastor and activist
Oliver Phelps (born 1986)British actor
Clarice Phelps (born 1981)African American nuclear chemist
Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps (1793–1884)American educator, botanist, author
James Phelps (born 1986)British actor
Peter Phelps (born 1960)Australian actor

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

Surnames like Phelps

Phelan

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.