Speed

7,092 people in the United States were counted with the surname Speed in the 2020 census, making it the 4,833rd most common in the country. That is about one person in 42,100.

By the numbers

People: 7,092
Rank: 4,833rd
How common: 1 in 42,100
Per 100,000: 2.4

Where the name comes from

Origin a nickname

As an English surname, from Middle English sped (“good fortune”). Also from the noun speed.

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

Who bears the name

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

White, not Hispanic 55.9%
Black, not Hispanic 35.6%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 4.4%
Hispanic or Latino 3.1%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.6%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.4%

Notable people called Speed

Gary Speed (1969–2011)Welsh association football player and manager
Scott Speed (born 1983)American racing driver
John Speed (1542–1629)English cartographer and historian (1551/52-1629)
James Speed (1812–1887)American lawyer and politician

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

Surnames like Speed

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.