Explore the Family Name Quest

The meaning of Quest

1. English: perhaps a nickname from Middle English, Old French queste ‘trial, inquest, jury’, also ‘request’, ‘search, quest, hunt’. It might, for example, have been a name for a lawyer or advocate, or for someone who frequently served on juries. 2. German: variant of Quast.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Quest has slightly decreased between the years 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked 31,817th in the United States and dropped to a rank of 35,582 in 2010, which is an overall decrease of 11.83%. The count also fell from 686 in 2000 to 632 in 2010, marking a decrease of 7.87%. This indicates that for every 100,000 people, there were approximately 0.25 individuals with the Quest surname in 2000, which further dropped to 0.21 by 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#31,817	#35,582	-11.83%
Count	686	632	-7.87%
Proportion per 100k	0.25	0.21	-16%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Quest

Discussing the ethnic identity associated with the surname Quest, data from the Decennial U.S. Census reveals that most bearers of this surname identified as White during both 2000 and 2010, with a slight decrease over the decade from 80.61% to 78.80%. The second largest group identified as Black, with a virtually unchanged percentage of 14.58% in 2000 to 14.40% in 2010. The Hispanic ethnicity saw a significant increase from 1.90% in 2000 to 2.85% in 2010. There was also a small increase in those identifying as two or more races from 2.48% to 2.69%. No individuals with the surname Quest identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	80.61%	78.8%	-2.25%
Black	14.58%	14.4%	-1.23%
Hispanic	1.9%	2.85%	50%
Two or More Races	2.48%	2.69%	8.47%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%