Explore the Family Name Pettitt

The meaning of Pettitt

English (mainly southeastern): variant of Petit.

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

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

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Pettitt has seen a slight increase in popularity between the years 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Pettitt ranked as the 16,053rd most common name, but by 2010 it moved up to rank 15,771, marking a 1.76% change. The count of individuals with this surname also increased during this period, going from 1,659 people in 2000 to 1,848 in 2010. This represents an 11.39% rise in the number of people named Pettitt in the United States. Furthermore, there was a 3.28% increase in the proportion of individuals with this surname per 100,000 people.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#16,053	#15,771	1.76%
Count	1,659	1,848	11.39%
Proportion per 100k	0.61	0.63	3.28%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Pettitt

When examining the ethnic identity associated with the surname Pettitt, as per the Decennial U.S. Census data, we notice some shifts between 2000 and 2010. The majority of individuals with this surname identified as White, although there was a slight decrease in this percentage from 93.79% to 92.97%. There was a notable growth in the number of individuals identifying as Hispanic, with a 48.57% increase in that decade. People identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander remained steady at 0.6%, while those identifying as two or more races saw a 27.56% increase. However, there was a decline in the proportion of Black (from 1.99% to 1.95%) and American Indian and Alaskan Native (from 0.60% to 0.27%) individuals holding the Pettitt surname.

	2000	2010	Change
White	93.79%	92.97%	-0.87%
Hispanic	1.75%	2.6%	48.57%
Black	1.99%	1.95%	-2.01%
Two or More Races	1.27%	1.62%	27.56%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.6%	0.6%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.6%	0.27%	-55%