Explore the Family Name Patience

The meaning of Patience

English and Scottish: from Middle English, Old French patience or Modern Scots or English patience (from Latin patientia, a derivative of patiens ‘patient’), hence a nickname, given perhaps to a notably long-suffering individual or to someone who had represented this abstract virtue in a morality play.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Patience has grown in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it was ranked 48,665th with a count of 407 occurrences, representing a proportion of 0.15 per 100,000 surnames. By 2010, its rank had improved to 44,423rd with 484 counts, an increase of 18.92%. The proportion also rose slightly to 0.16 per 100,000 surnames, indicating a growth in popularity of 6.67%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#48,665	#44,423	8.72%
Count	407	484	18.92%
Proportion per 100k	0.15	0.16	6.67%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Patience

As for ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows that the majority of individuals with the surname Patience are white. However, there were slight shifts in ethnicity from 2000 to 2010. While the percentage of those identifying as white decreased from 82.31% to 76.03%, there was an increase in those identifying as black, from 13.27% to 15.08%. Additionally, new percentages emerged for those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander (1.03%) and Hispanic (4.96%), where previously there were none. There was a slight increase in those identifying with two or more races from 2.46% to 2.89%. No data was recorded for American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	82.31%	76.03%	-7.63%
Black	13.27%	15.08%	13.64%
Hispanic	0%	4.96%	0%
Two or More Races	2.46%	2.89%	17.48%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	1.03%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%