Explore the Family Name Ordway

The meaning of Ordway

English: from the Middle English personal name Ordwy, Ordwic (from Old English Ordwīg, composed of the elements ord ‘point, spear’ + wīg ‘war’).

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

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

According to the data provided by the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname 'Ordway' changed slightly between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it was ranked at 10,787 in terms of popularity nationwide, while in 2010, it dropped slightly to rank 11,478. Despite the decrease in rank, the actual count of individuals bearing the surname increased from 2,715 in 2000 to 2,741 in 2010. This presented a small growth rate of approximately 0.96%. The proportion per 100k people also saw a slight decrease from 1.01 to 0.93 during the same period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#10,787	#11,478	-6.41%
Count	2,715	2,741	0.96%
Proportion per 100k	1.01	0.93	-7.92%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Ordway

The ethnic identity associated with the surname 'Ordway' underwent some shifts from 2000 to 2010, based on the data from the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2000, 94.88% of Ordways identified as White, but this figure declined slightly to 93.65% in 2010. Those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander increased from 0.48% to 0.66%, and those reporting two or more races increased from 1.07% to 1.79%. The percentage of people with the surname Ordway who identified as Hispanic increased from 1.95% to 2.12%, while those identifying as Black rose from 1.29% to 1.50%. The only decline was among those identifying as American Indian and Alaskan Native, which reduced from 0.33% to 0.29%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.88%	93.65%	-1.3%
Hispanic	1.95%	2.12%	8.72%
Two or More Races	1.07%	1.79%	67.29%
Black	1.29%	1.5%	16.28%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.48%	0.66%	37.5%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.33%	0.29%	-12.12%