Explore the Family Name Challis
The meaning of Challis
1. English (southeastern England and East Anglia), of Norman origin: habitational name from either Écalles-Alix (Seine-Maritime), Écalles (in Estouteville-Écalles, Seine-Maritime), or Escalles (Pas-de-Calais). The Norman surname is recorded as de Scalers, Latinized as de Scalariis, which contains the plural form of Late Latin scalaria ‘ladder, staircase, stile’. It may have been used as a variant of scala and scalae in the naming of one or more of these places, the modern forms of which derive from scala(e); see Scales 2. 2. English (southwestern), of Norman origin: habitational name, a shortened form of Challons, from Chalon-sur-Saône or Châlons-sur-Marne in France.
Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.
How common is the last name Challis in the United States?
Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname "Challis" has seen a slight decrease in popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, it was ranked as the 30,199th most popular surname, but by 2010, it had slipped slightly to the 30,916th spot, marking a change of -2.37%. Despite this drop in rank, the actual count of individuals with the Challis surname increased by 2.73% during the same period, from 732 in 2000 to 752 in 2010. However, the proportion of people named Challis per 100,000 decreased by 7.41%, from 0.27 to 0.25.
| 2000 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #30,199 | #30,916 | -2.37% |
| Count | 732 | 752 | 2.73% |
| Proportion per 100k | 0.27 | 0.25 | -7.41% |
Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Challis
Looking at the ethnic identity associated with the surname "Challis", we see some changes between 2000 and 2010 based on the Decennial U.S. Census data. The largest group, those identifying as White, remained relatively stable with a slight decrease of -0.28%, from 94.95% to 94.68%. Those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander disappeared entirely from the data by 2010, while the percentage of those identifying with Two or more races increased by 32.67% to reach 1.99%. The Hispanic representation also emerged in 2010, accounting for 0.93% of the Challis surname bearers. There were no individuals identifying as Black in either 2000 or 2010, and the proportion of American Indian and Alaskan Native dropped by 18.90% to 1.33% in 2010.
| 2000 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 94.95% | 94.68% | -0.28% |
| Two or More Races | 1.5% | 1.99% | 32.67% |
| American Indian and Alaskan Native | 1.64% | 1.33% | -18.9% |
| Hispanic | 0% | 0.93% | 0% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 0.96% | 0% | 0% |
| Black | 0% | 0% | 0% |