Explore the Family Name Legacy

The meaning of Legacy

Americanized form of French Lagacé (see Lagace). History: Bearers of the surname Legacy are descendants of Andre Mignier dit Lagacé (also Lagassé) from France (see Lagace).

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname 'Legacy' has slightly decreased over a decade from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, it was ranked as the 39,824th most common surname in the United States and had a numerical presence of 519 individuals. By 2010, its rank dropped to 42,937, and the count decreased marginally to 504 individuals, signifying a 2.89% decrease. Similarly, the proportion of people with the 'Legacy' surname per 100k population also saw a decline of approximately 10.53%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#39,824	#42,937	-7.82%
Count	519	504	-2.89%
Proportion per 100k	0.19	0.17	-10.53%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Legacy

As for the ethnic identity associated with the 'Legacy' surname, the data from the Decennial U.S. Census shows some shifts between 2000 and 2010. The majority of bearers of this surname identified as White in both years, although there was a slight reduction from 95.57% in 2000 to 92.86% in 2010. There were no individuals that identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or Black in 2000, but by 2010, 1.98% identified as Black. Furthermore, the percentage of those identifying with two or more races emerged at 2.18% in 2010. Meanwhile, both Hispanic and American Indian and Alaskan Native identities experienced decreases, with Hispanic dropping from 1.73% to 1.19%, and American Indian and Alaskan Native diminishing entirely.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.57%	92.86%	-2.84%
Two or More Races	0%	2.18%	0%
Black	0%	1.98%	0%
Hispanic	1.73%	1.19%	-31.21%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.96%	0%	0%