Explore the Family Name Wedgwood

The meaning of Wedgwood

English: habitational name from Wedgwood in Staffordshire. The placename probably means ‘the wedge-shaped wood’, from Old English wecg ‘wedge’ + wudu ‘wood’. History: The famous English family of pottery makers of this name was founded by Josiah Wedgwood in 1759. They trace their descent from Stephen de Wedgewood, who was recorded in Brieryhurst (Staffordshire) in 1358.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Wedgwood has seen a slight decrease over a decade. In 2000, Wedgwood ranked 84,631 in popularity with a total count of 206 people carrying this surname. By 2010, the rank dropped to 88,336 and the count increased slightly to 210. This represents a change of -4.38 in rank and an increase of 1.94 in the count. The proportion per 100,000 people also fell by 12.5, from 0.08 in 2000 to 0.07 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#84,631	#88,336	-4.38%
Count	206	210	1.94%
Proportion per 100k	0.08	0.07	-12.5%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Wedgwood

The ethnic identity associated with the Wedgwood surname, according to the Decennial U.S. Census, is predominantly White. In 2000, 93.20% of Wedgwoods identified as White, and this percentage rose slightly to 94.76% in 2010. The number of individuals identifying with two or more races also rose from 2.43% in 2000 to 2.86% in 2010. There were no changes observed in the categories of Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Black, and American Indian and Alaskan Native. However, it's worth noting that there might be cases where data was suppressed for privacy reasons and not reflected in these figures.

	2000	2010	Change
White	93.2%	94.76%	1.67%
Two or More Races	2.43%	2.86%	17.7%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%