Wise

Wise is the 499th most common surname in the United States, shared by 65,596 people at the 2020 census. That is about one person in 4,557.

By the numbers

People: 65,596
Rank: 499th
How common: 1 in 4,557
Per 100,000: 22.0

Who bears the name

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

White, not Hispanic 75.9%
Black, not Hispanic 15.2%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 4.1%
Hispanic or Latino 3.5%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.8%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.6%

Notable people called Wise

Robert Wise (1914–2005)American film director, film producer and film editor
Ray Wise (born 1947)American actor
Dennis Wise (born 1966)English football player and manager
David Wise (born 1990)American freestyle skier
Greg Wise (born 1966)English actor
Isaac Mayer Wise (1819–1900)American rabbi, editor and author
Henry A. Wise (1806–1876)United States Congressman and governor of Virginia
Kirk Wise (born 1963)American film director

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

Surnames like Wise

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.