Explore the Family Name Bunyan

The meaning of Bunyan

English (southeastern): nickname for someone disfigured by a lump or hump, from a diminutive of Old French bugne ‘swelling, protuberance’. The term bugnon was also applied to a kind of puffed-up fruit tart, and so the surname may also have been a metonymic occupational name for a baker of these.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Bunyan in the United States?

Based on the data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Bunyan observed a slight decrease in popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, it was ranked 32,161st and by 2010, it had dropped slightly to 32,485th position, marking a change of -1.01%. However, despite this drop in rank, the number of individuals carrying the Bunyan name increased from 676 in 2000 to 708 in 2010, demonstrating growth of 4.73%. The proportion per 100k people also decreased slightly, by -4.0%, over the decade.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#32,161	#32,485	-1.01%
Count	676	708	4.73%
Proportion per 100k	0.25	0.24	-4%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Bunyan

The Ethnicity table provides insights into the diverse ethnic identities associated with the surname Bunyan. According to the Decennial U.S. Census, the most common ethnicity among those with the Bunyan surname is 'White', although there was a decrease of -8.51% in this group from 2000 to 2010. The second most prevalent ethnicity is 'Black', which saw a marginal increase of 0.39%. Interestingly, the categories of 'Asian/Pacific Islander', 'Two or more races', 'Hispanic', and 'American Indian and Alaskan Native' all saw significant increases over the decade, with the 'Asian/Pacific Islander' category experiencing the largest growth rate at 78.90%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	67.46%	61.72%	-8.51%
Black	22.93%	23.02%	0.39%
Asian/Pacific Islander	2.37%	4.24%	78.9%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	2.81%	4.24%	50.89%
Hispanic	2.37%	3.67%	54.85%
Two or More Races	2.07%	3.11%	50.24%