Ralston

Ralston is the 3,028th most common surname in the United States, shared by 11,581 people at the 2020 census. That is about one person in 25,800.

By the numbers

People: 11,581
Rank: 3,028th
How common: 1 in 25,800
Per 100,000: 3.9

Where the name comes from

Origin Old English

From the Old English personal name Rǣdwulf (“Ralph”) + -s- + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”).

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

Who bears the name

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

White, not Hispanic 88.6%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 3.6%
Hispanic or Latino 3.2%
Black, not Hispanic 3.0%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.8%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.8%

Notable people called Ralston

Aron Ralston (born 1975)Mountain climber, autobiographer, motivational speaker
Anthony Ralston (born 1998)Scottish association football player
Esther Ralston (1902–1994)American actress
Dennis Ralston (1942–2020)US tennis player
Vera Ralston (1920–2003)Czech-born figure skater and actor
Jobyna Ralston (1899–1967)American actress
Steve Ralston (born 1974)American soccer player
Ken Ralston (born 1954)motion picture visual effects artist

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

Surnames like Ralston

Also a first name

Ralston has been given to 931 American babies as a first name since 1910, 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.