Explore the Family Name Gosney

The meaning of Gosney

English: from Middle English gos(se) ‘goose’ + ei ‘island’ (Old English gōs + ēg). The name may be topographic, denoting someone who lived ‘(at the) goose island’, or, more probably, habitational, for someone from a lost or as yet unidentified place so named. The name is found mainly in Yorkshire.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, in terms of popularity, the surname Gosney has seen a decrease. In 2000, Gosney ranked 14,693, but by 2010, it had slipped to 15,883, suggesting a decrease in popularity of about 8.1%. The count also dropped from 1,855 in 2000 to 1,831 in 2010, marking a decline of 1.29%. The proportion per 100,000 people decreased by 10.14% from 0.69 to 0.62.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#14,693	#15,883	-8.1%
Count	1,855	1,831	-1.29%
Proportion per 100k	0.69	0.62	-10.14%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Gosney

Looking at the ethnicity of those bearing the surname Gosney, based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the largest group identified as White, making up 94.39% in 2000 and 94.16% in 2010, showing a slight decrease of 0.24%. The second-largest group was those identifying with two or more races, which declined by 23.53%, from 2.21% in 2000 to 1.69% in 2010. Meanwhile, the number of individuals who identified as Asian/Pacific Islander increased by 11.86%, and the Hispanic population grew by 36.29%. Those identifying as Black decreased slightly by 8.82%, while there was a significant increase in the number of American Indian and Alaskan Natives by 61.11%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.39%	94.16%	-0.24%
Two or More Races	2.21%	1.69%	-23.53%
Hispanic	1.24%	1.69%	36.29%
Black	1.02%	0.93%	-8.82%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.54%	0.87%	61.11%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.59%	0.66%	11.86%