Explore the Family Name Plew

The meaning of Plew

1. German: perhaps a variant of Plewe, a habitational name from a place so named in Brandenburg. 2. English: variant of Plaw, a topographic name for someone who lived by a place where sports and games were played, from Middle English plaghe, plawe, pleie, ploghe, plowe (Old English plega, plæga, plaga) ‘play, sport, game, merriment’ and by transference ‘play-place’. 3. English: northern variant of Plow, itself a variant of Plough ‘plow’.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Plew saw a slight decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked 28,226th most common name and decreased to the 28,465th position in 2010, reflecting a change of -0.85 percent. Despite this drop in rank, the actual count of individuals with the Plew surname increased from 798 to 838 over the same period, indicating a growth of 5.01 percent.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#28,226	#28,465	-0.85%
Count	798	838	5.01%
Proportion per 100k	0.3	0.28	-6.67%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Plew

The census data also provides insights into the ethnic identity associated with the Plew surname. The majority identified as White, though the proportion decreased slightly from 96.24% in 2000 to 93.08% in 2010. Individuals of Hispanic ethnicity experienced significant growth, increasing from 1.50% to 3.70%. Additionally, there was a small increase in those identifying with two or more races, rising from 1.38% to 1.67%. Data for Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, and American Indian and Alaskan Native were either suppressed or showed no change. This information is based on the Decennial U.S. Census.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.24%	93.08%	-3.28%
Hispanic	1.5%	3.7%	146.67%
Two or More Races	1.38%	1.67%	21.01%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0.72%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%