Sumner

17,669 people in the United States were counted with the surname Sumner in the 2020 census, making it the 1,995th most common in the country. That is about one person in 16,900.

By the numbers

People: 17,669
Rank: 1,995th
How common: 1 in 16,900
Per 100,000: 5.9

Where the name comes from

Origin an occupational name

From Middle English sumner (“summoner”).

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

Who bears the name

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

White, not Hispanic 84.8%
Black, not Hispanic 6.3%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 3.6%
Hispanic or Latino 3.3%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 1.2%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.7%

Notable people called Sumner

James Batcheller Sumner (1887–1955)American chemist
William Graham Sumner (1840–1910)American sociologist
Charles Sumner (1811–1874)American abolitionist and statesman
Bernard Sumner (born 1956)English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer
Eliot Sumner (born 1990)British musician
Edwin Vose Sumner (1797–1863)U.S. Union Army general
Mickey Sumner (born 1984)British actress
Edmond Sumner (born 1995)American basketball player

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

Surnames like Sumner

Also a first name

Sumner has been given to 2,662 American babies as a first name since 1880, peaking in 1920. 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.