Ralph
7,753 people in the United States were counted with the surname Ralph in the 2020 census, making it the 4,437th most common in the country. That is about one person in 38,600.
By the numbers
- People
- 7,753
- Rank
- 4,437th
- How common
- 1 in 38,600
- Per 100,000
- 2.6
Where the name comes from
Origin a patronymic
From Middle English Radulf, from Old English Rǣdwulf (also as Raulf), from Proto-West Germanic *Rādawulf, from Proto-Germanic *Rēdawulfaz. Reinforced by similar forms brought to England, e.g. Old Norse Ráðúlfr, then in the Norman form Old French Radulf, Radulph. For the sense relating to vomiting, see ralph.
Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Who bears the name
How people with the surname Ralph described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:
Notable people called Ralph
- Sheryl Lee Ralph (born 1956)American actress and singer
- Jessie Ralph (1864–1944)actress
- Bo Ralph (born 1945)Swedish linguist, Member of the Swedish Academy
- Hanna Ralph (1888–1978)German actress
- Jason Ralph (born 1986)American actor
- Glencora Ralph (born 1988)Australian female water polo player
- Anselmo Ralph (born 1981)Angolan singer
People named Ralph with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).
Surnames like Ralph
Also a first name
Ralph has been given to 415,858 American babies as a first name since 1880, peaking in 1921. 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.