Explore the Family Name Wellesley

The meaning of Wellesley

English: habitational name from Wellesley Farm near Wells (Somerset). The placename probably derives from the genitive case of Old English wella ‘spring, stream’ + lēah ‘woodland clearing’. It was later interpreted as ‘woodland belonging to (the town of) Wells’.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Wellesley has shown a slight increase in popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, the name ranked 110,523 in popularity with a count of 148, which increased to a rank of 109,758 and count of 161 in 2010. This is a change of approximately 0.69 in ranking and an increase of 8.78 in the actual count of people with this surname. The proportion per 100,000 individuals remained steady at 0.05.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#110,523	#109,758	0.69%
Count	148	161	8.78%
Proportion per 100k	0.05	0.05	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Wellesley

When examining the ethnic identity associated with the surname Wellesley, based on the Decennial U.S. Census, there are some noticeable changes from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, roughly 80.41% of those with the Wellesley surname identified as White, decreasing to 70.81% by 2010. Additionally, the percentage of individuals identifying as Black increased from 13.51% to 18.63%. Interestingly, there was also a new presence of Hispanic ethnicity at 9.32% in 2010, where it was previously 0% in 2000. However, there were no individuals with the surname who identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either 2000 or 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	80.41%	70.81%	-11.94%
Black	13.51%	18.63%	37.9%
Hispanic	0%	9.32%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%