2000
#3,512
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 9,309
First available Census row
Per 100,000 3.45
Uncommon Last name
Guest
An English occupational surname for a guest or stranger, or someone who was temporarily staying with others.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 10,546 Americans carry the last name Guest. That puts it at #3,760 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 3.08 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 32,501 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Guest surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
For British records, Name Census UK has a British surname profile for Guest with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
11K
1 in 32,501
Census rank
#3,760
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
3.1
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
9.2K
uncommon in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 9,197 bearers of the surname Guest in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 3.08 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 3760th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Guest, the largest self-reported group is White at 74.8%. The next largest groups are Black (16.0%) and Two or More Races (4.3%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Guest
The surname GUEST is of English origin, derived from the Old English word "gæst" meaning "stranger" or "guest". It emerged as a surname in the late 12th century and was typically given to people who were travelers, foreigners, or newcomers to a particular area.
The name GUEST is believed to have originated in the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex in eastern England, where many early records of the name can be found. One of the earliest recorded examples is in the Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire from 1273, where a Robert le Gest is mentioned.
In the 13th and 14th centuries, the name appeared in various spellings such as Gest, Ghest, Geste, and Gist, reflecting the regional variations in pronunciation and spelling at the time. The Domesday Book of 1086 does not contain any direct references to the surname GUEST, but it does include the Old English word "gæst" in some place names, such as Gestingthorpe in Essex.
Notable individuals with the surname GUEST throughout history include:
1. Edmund Guest (1518-1576), an English Protestant reformer and Bishop of Rochester from 1560 to 1576.
2. John Guest (1722-1787), an English industrialist and entrepreneur who founded the Dowlais Ironworks in Wales.
3. Lady Charlotte Guest (1812-1895), an English translator best known for her translation of the medieval Welsh folk tales known as the Mabinogion.
4. Walter John Baptist Guest (1838-1923), a British engineer and industrialist who pioneered the development of the Bessemer steel process in South Wales.
5. Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959), an American poet and writer who was popular in the early 20th century and became known as the "People's Poet".
The surname GUEST has also been associated with several place names, such as Guest's Farm in Dorset and Guest's Park in Shropshire, reflecting the historical presence of families bearing this name in various parts of England.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Guest
Among Census respondents with the surname Guest, the largest self-reported group is White at 74.8%. The next largest groups are Black (16.0%) and Two or More Races (4.3%).
The bar chart below shows how Guest bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Guest surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.8% · 6,878
- Black or African American16.0% · 1,468
- Two or more races4.3% · 400
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 323
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 71
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 57
Timeline
Historical Census data for Guest
Guest appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#3,737
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 9,483
+174 bearers (+1.9%)
Per 100,000 3.21
Rank movement Down 225 places
2020
#3,760
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 9,197
-286 bearers (-3.0%)
Per 100,000 3.08
Rank movement Down 23 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #3,512 | 9,309 | 3.45 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #3,737 | 9,483 | 3.21 | +174 bearers (+1.9%) | Down 225 places |
| 2020 | #3,760 | 9,197 | 3.08 | -286 bearers (-3.0%) | Down 23 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Guest surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #3,737 | #3,760 | -0.6% |
| Count | 9,483 | 9,197 | -3.0% |
| Per 100K | 3.21 | 3.08 | -4.1% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Guest bearers went from 9,483 to 9,197 (-3.0% change). The surname moved down 23 positions in the national ranking, going from #3,737 to #3,760.
Notable bearers
Famous people with the surname Guest
FAQ
Guest surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Guest?
Name Census estimates that about 10,546 living Americans carry the surname Guest. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 32,501 residents.
How common is Guest?
Guest ranks #3,760 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Uncommon." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 3.08 per 100,000 residents, which is about 3 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 9,197 people with the surname Guest. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (10,546), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 3.08 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 3.08 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 3 of them to have the surname Guest.
Has Guest become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Guest went from 9,483 recorded bearers to 9,197. That is a decrease of 286 (-3.0%). In the national ranking it fell from #3,737 to #3,760.
What does the Census say about the background of Guest?
Among Census respondents with the surname Guest, the largest self-reported group is White at 74.8%. The next largest groups are Black (16.0%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Guest in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.8% (6,878 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Guest appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (74.8%), Black (16.0%), Two or More Races (4.3%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Guest (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Guest mean?
An English occupational surname for a guest or stranger, or someone who was temporarily staying with others. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Guest (3.08 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people have the surname Guest?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.