Explore the Family Name Weatherhead

The meaning of Weatherhead

English (northern): occupational name for a shepherd, from an altered form of Middle English wetherherde ‘shepherd’ (from wether ‘sheep’ + herde ‘herder, person who looks after animals’).

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

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

The surname Weatherhead, based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, was ranked 31,563rd in popularity in 2000 and slipped to the 32,960th position by 2010. This represents a decrease of 4.43% over the decade. However, the actual count of people with this surname slightly increased from 693 in 2000 to 695 in 2010, a marginal rise of 0.29%. The proportion of people named Weatherhead per 100,000 population decreased by 7.69%, from 0.26 in 2000 to 0.24 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#31,563	#32,960	-4.43%
Count	693	695	0.29%
Proportion per 100k	0.26	0.24	-7.69%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Weatherhead

In terms of ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows that the majority of individuals with the Weatherhead surname identify as White, making up 93.22% in 2000, but reduced to 89.50% in 2010, marking a decrease of 3.99%. Those identifying as Black made up 2.74% in 2000, increasing to 4.03% in 2010, a significant increase of 47.08%. Individuals identifying as Hispanic accounted for 1.73% in 2000, rising to 2.73% in 2010, a substantial increase of 57.80%. A small fraction identified as Two or more races in 2000 (1.01%), but this data was suppressed in 2010. The percentage of those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander was zero in 2000 but recorded an increase to 1.87% in 2010. No individuals identified as American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	93.22%	89.5%	-3.99%
Black	2.74%	4.03%	47.08%
Hispanic	1.73%	2.73%	57.8%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	1.87%	0%
Two or More Races	1.01%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%