Explore the Family Name Quincy

The meaning of Quincy

English (of Norman origin): habitational name from any of several places in France deriving their names from the Gallo-Roman personal name Quintus, meaning ‘fifth(-born)’ + the locative suffix -acum. The earliest bearer of the name in England, that of Saer de Quincy, ancestor of the earls of Winchester, was from Cuinchy in Pas-de-Calais, but the name may have been reinforced by immigrants from Quincy-sous-Sénard in Seine-et-Oise or Quincy-Voisins in Seine-et-Marne. A family of the name de Quincy held the title Earl of Winchester 1207–65. Descendants of this family later bore the name Quincey up to the time of the English essayist Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859), who changed his name from Quincey to De Quincey in 1796. History: The American Quincy family were established in MA by Edmund Quincy in 1633. Fifth in descent was Josiah Quincy (1744–75), a leading patriot, who was sent to England to argue the colonists’ case in 1774. His son Josiah (1772–1864) was a powerful opponent of slavery, president of Harvard, and mayor of Boston, a post also held by several of his descendants. The traditional pronunciation is “Quinzy”.

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

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

The surname Quincy, based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, has seen a slight increase in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Quincy was ranked 25,006th in popularity with 932 recorded occurrences. By 2010, it had climbed to 24,665th place, experiencing an increase of 1.36%. The count of Quincy also rose by 8.58% during this period, from 932 in 2000 to 1012 in 2010. However, the proportion of people with the Quincy surname per 100,000 dropped slightly by 2.86%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#25,006	#24,665	1.36%
Count	932	1,012	8.58%
Proportion per 100k	0.35	0.34	-2.86%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Quincy

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals that the Quincy surname is most commonly associated with those identifying as White, at 62.23% in 2000 and 60.97% in 2010. It's also prevalent among those identifying as Black, with 28.22% in 2000 and 28.46% in 2010. The Hispanic population with the Quincy name saw the most growth, increasing by 62.64% from 1.82% in 2000 to 2.96% in 2010. Those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and belonging to two or more races also increased, while the American Indian and Alaskan Native category saw a decrease of 10.29%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	62.23%	60.97%	-2.02%
Black	28.22%	28.46%	0.85%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	4.08%	3.66%	-10.29%
Two or More Races	3.11%	3.26%	4.82%
Hispanic	1.82%	2.96%	62.64%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.54%	0.69%	27.78%