Explore the Family Name Sorby

The meaning of Sorby

1. Norwegian (Sørby): habitational name from any of fifteen or more farmsteads in southeastern Norway, most of them variants of Sørbø (see Sorbo), with Old Norse býr ‘farm, settlement’ as the final element. In some cases the first element may be sør ‘south’. 2. English (Yorkshire): variant of Sowerby. Some characteristic forenames: Scandinavian Selmer, Thor.

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

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

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Sorby has seen a slight decline from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, Sorby ranked as the 59,453rd most popular surname in the U.S., but by 2010, it had slipped to the 66,371st position, marking an 11.64% decrease. The count of individuals with this surname also dipped slightly during this period, from 318 to 298, representing a 6.29% drop. The proportion of people named Sorby per 100,000 inhabitants followed suit, decreasing by 16.67%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#59,453	#66,371	-11.64%
Count	318	298	-6.29%
Proportion per 100k	0.12	0.1	-16.67%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Sorby

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Sorby also demonstrated some changes over the same decade, according to the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2000, approximately 94.97% of individuals with the Sorby surname identified as White, and this percentage increased to 97.99% in 2010. The proportion of those identifying as two or more races and Black dropped to zero by 2010, from 2.52% and 1.57% respectively in 2000. No significant shift was observed among individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, or American Indian and Alaskan Native, with these categories showing no representation in either 2000 or 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.97%	97.99%	3.18%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	2.52%	0%	0%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
Black	1.57%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%