Explore the Family Name Orrison

The meaning of Orrison

Apparently an English patronymic from Orris; however, the surname does not occur in current British records.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Orrison experienced a slight decrease between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Orrison was ranked 35,860 in popularity with 592 individuals carrying the name. By 2010, though, it dropped to 38,439 in ranking; the number of people with this surname fell to 576. This represents a decline of 7.19% in rank and a decrease of 2.7% in count. The proportion of people per 100,000 with the Orrison surname also decreased by 9.09% during this period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#35,860	#38,439	-7.19%
Count	592	576	-2.7%
Proportion per 100k	0.22	0.2	-9.09%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Orrison

In terms of ethnic identity, based on the Decennial U.S. Census, there were changes in the distribution of ethnicity for the Orrison surname from 2000 to 2010. During this decade, the percentage of those identifying as White and having the Orrison surname decreased slightly from 96.45% to 93.58%. However, there was an increase in the percentage of those claiming two or more races under the Orrison surname, growing from 2.03% in 2000 to 2.26% in 2010. There were no reported Orrisons identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander or Black in either census year. Notably, the percentages of Orrisons identifying as Hispanic and American Indian and Alaskan Native were listed as zero in 2000, but showed measurable presence at 2.08% and 1.39%, respectively, in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.45%	93.58%	-2.98%
Two or More Races	2.03%	2.26%	11.33%
Hispanic	0%	2.08%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	1.39%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%