Explore the Family Name Wallingford

The meaning of Wallingford

English (Dorset and Hampshire): habitational name from Wallingford in Berkshire. The placename derives from the Old English personal name Wealh + the Old English groupname suffix -ingas (genitive -inga-) + ford ‘ford’.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Wallingford experienced a slight dip in popularity between 2000 and 2010. The rank of this surname dropped from 15,213 to 16,254, marking a 6.84% decrease. In terms of count, there was virtually no change, with only one less person bearing the surname in 2010 compared to 2000 (1775 vs. 1776). This indicates that while the surname did not grow in prevalence, it maintained a stable presence in the U.S., albeit with a slightly lower proportion per 100k in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#15,213	#16,254	-6.84%
Count	1,776	1,775	-0.06%
Proportion per 100k	0.66	0.6	-9.09%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Wallingford

In terms of ethnicity, the data from the Decennial U.S. Census reveals some fluctuations among those with the Wallingford surname between 2000 and 2010. Those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander nearly doubled, increasing by 87.18%, while individuals claiming two or more ethnic identities rose by 27.42%. The majority of Wallingfords identified as White, although this percentage decreased slightly from 93.19% to 92.11%. The Hispanic representation also saw an increase of 43.22%. Conversely, both Black and American Indian and Alaskan Native representations saw decreases, dropping by 5.93% and 17.65% respectively.

	2000	2010	Change
White	93.19%	92.11%	-1.16%
Black	2.7%	2.54%	-5.93%
Two or More Races	1.86%	2.37%	27.42%
Hispanic	1.18%	1.69%	43.22%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.39%	0.73%	87.18%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.68%	0.56%	-17.65%