The LEWIS surname in the USA

Frequency Comparisons
	Total	Rank	Frequency %	Per million people
United States
United States (Current snapshot)	509,930	26	0.189	1,890
United States (1880 census)	119,989	22	0.24	2,400
Change since 1880	+389941	-4	-0.051	-510
Other Countries
Australia	18,458	47	0.113	1,129
United Kingdom	105,032	23	0.229	2,287

Top States for LEWIS by Total
State	Total	Rank in State	Frequency %	Per million people
Texas	38,674	36	0.185	1,855
California	37,876	52	0.112	1,118
Florida	32,476	27	0.203	2,032
New York	24,625	20	0.130	1,298
Ohio	24,107	22	0.212	2,123
Top States for LEWIS by Frequency
State	Total	Rank in State	Frequency %	Per million people
Louisiana	16,308	16	0.365	3,649
Mississippi	10,033	21	0.353	3,527
Delaware	2,503	14	0.319	3,194
Washington DC	1,817	13	0.318	3,176
Alabama	13,489	28	0.303	3,033

Notes

Total is the total number of people with that surname.
Rank is the position in the list of names ordered by total (eg, a rank of 1 means that it's the most common name, and a rank of 10 means it's the tenth most common, etc).
Frequency is the percentage of people with that surname.
Per million people is the number of people with that surname per million of the population.

'A figure of zero indicates that we don't have data for this name (usually because it's quite uncommon and our stats don't go down that far). It doesn't mean that there's no-one with that name at all!

For less common surnames, the figures get progressively less reliable the fewer holders of that name there are. This data is aggregated from several public lists, and some stats are interpolated from known values. The margin of error is well over 100% at the rarest end of the table!

For less common surnames, the frequency and "per million" values may be 0 even though there are people with that name. That's because they represent less than one in a million of the population, which ends up as 0 after rounding.

It's possible for a surname to gain in rank and/or total while being less common per million people (or vice versa) as there are now more surnames in the USA as a result of immigration. In mathematical terms, the tail has got longer, with a far larger number of less common surnames.

Figures for top states show firstly the states where most people called LEWIS live. This obviously tends to be biased towards the most populous states. The second set of figures show where people called LEWIS represent the biggest proportion of the population. So, in this case, there are more people called LEWIS in Texas than any other state, but you are more likely to find a LEWIS by picking someone at random in Louisiana than anywhere else.

Classification and Origin of LEWIS

Region of origin: British Isles

Country of origin: Wales

Language of origin: Welsh

Ethnic origin: Celtic

Religious origin: Christian

Name derivation: From name of parent

Data for religion and/or language relates to the culture in which the LEWIS surname originated. It does not necessarily have any correlation with the language spoken, or religion practised, by the majority of current American citizens with that name.

Data for ethnic origin relates to the region and country in which the LEWIS surname originated. It does not necessarily have any correlation with the ethnicity of the majority of current American citizens with that name.

Ethnic distribution of LEWIS in the USA

Classification	Total	Percent
White (Caucasian)	310,904	60.97
Black/African American	172,509	33.83
Mixed Race	10,046	1.97
White (Hispanic)	8,363	1.64
Native American/Alaskan	5,813	1.14
Asian/Pacific	2,295	0.45

Ethnic distribution data shows the number and percentage of people with the LEWIS surname who reported their ethnic background as being in these broad categories in the most recent national census.

Meaning of LEWIS in historical publications

In the Fr., Louis; Latin, Ludovicus; Teutonic, Ludwig or Leodwig, from the Saxon Leod, the people, and wic, a castle--the safeguard of the people. Lluaws, Welsh, signifies a multitude.

Arthur, William (1857) An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain.

LEWIS. Tlie Welsh jiersonal name, the same as the Fr. Louis. Also one of the Hebrides. Many of the Welsh families conceal beneath this common, aud usually plebeian name, blood and pedigree of remote antiquity. For example, Lewis of Greenmeadow springs from Gwaethvoed, descended from the ancient princes of Britain, aud a contemporary of the A-Sax. king Edgar. Lewis of Gilfach claims from Cradoc ajD Guillym, who flourished in the XIII. century. Lewis of St. Pierre derives from Cadifor, prince or chieftain of Divet (a district which comprised Pembrokeshire and part of Caermarthen), about the time of the Norman Conquest. In these cases the name Lewis was not hereditary until temp. Henry VIII. or Elizabeth.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.

Similar names to LEWIS

The following names have similar spellings or pronunciations as LEWIS.

This does not necessarily imply a direct relationship between the names, but may indicate names that could be mistaken for this one when written down or misheard.