2000
#2,465
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 13,421
First available Census row
Per 100,000 4.98
Uncommon Last name
Merchant
An occupational surname referring to a merchant, trader, or someone who sells goods.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 16,611 Americans carry the last name Merchant. That puts it at #2,438 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 4.85 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 20,634 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Merchant 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 Merchant with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
17K
1 in 20,634
Census rank
#2,438
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
4.8
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
14K
uncommon in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 14,486 bearers of the surname Merchant in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 4.85 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 2438th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Merchant, the largest self-reported group is White at 58.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.2%) and Black (14.9%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Merchant
The surname Merchant is an English occupational name derived from the Old French word "marchaunt", meaning "a trader" or "merchant". It emerged in medieval times during the 12th and 13th centuries when trade across Europe started to flourish.
The name was initially concentrated in areas associated with commerce and trade routes, such as London, Bristol, and other port cities in England. It is believed to have first appeared in written records around the late 12th century as the spelling "Marchaunt".
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name dates back to 1273 in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire, which lists a Robert le Marchaunt. In the same century, the name also appears in the Subsidy Rolls of Sussex in 1296, referring to a Thomas le Marchant.
The Merchant surname can be traced back to the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as a place name "Marchant" in Somerset. This suggests that some early bearers of the name may have derived their surname from the place they inhabited.
Over time, the spelling evolved to its modern form of Merchant, as evident in the records of John Merchant, a merchant from London mentioned in the Close Rolls of 1435. Other notable individuals with this surname include:
1. Myles Merchant (c. 1553-1628), an English merchant and Member of Parliament for Barnstaple in the early 17th century.
2. Sir Samuel Rowlands Merchant (1619-1660), an English merchant and politician who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1660.
3. Thomas Merchant (c. 1600-1672), an English merchant and pioneer settler in New England, who co-founded the town of Wethersfield, Connecticut.
4. John Merchant (1785-1859), a British merchant and Member of Parliament for Beverley from 1832 to 1835.
5. Edward Merchant (1823-1891), an English-born merchant and politician in New Zealand, who served as Mayor of Auckland from 1887 to 1888.
The Merchant surname has a rich history deeply rooted in the medieval trade and commerce of England, reflecting the importance of merchants in shaping the economic and social fabric of the country over centuries.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Merchant
Among Census respondents with the surname Merchant, the largest self-reported group is White at 58.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.2%) and Black (14.9%).
The bar chart below shows how Merchant 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 Merchant surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.7% · 8,509
- Asian and Pacific Islander17.2% · 2,489
- Black or African American14.9% · 2,162
- Two or more races4.6% · 664
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 596
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 66
Timeline
Historical Census data for Merchant
Merchant 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
#2,455
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 14,692
+1,271 bearers (+9.5%)
Per 100,000 4.98
Rank movement Up 10 places
2020
#2,438
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 14,486
-206 bearers (-1.4%)
Per 100,000 4.85
Rank movement Up 17 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #2,465 | 13,421 | 4.98 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #2,455 | 14,692 | 4.98 | +1,271 bearers (+9.5%) | Up 10 places |
| 2020 | #2,438 | 14,486 | 4.85 | -206 bearers (-1.4%) | Up 17 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 Merchant 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 | #2,455 | #2,438 | 0.7% |
| Count | 14,692 | 14,486 | -1.4% |
| Per 100K | 4.98 | 4.85 | -2.7% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Merchant bearers went from 14,692 to 14,486 (-1.4% change). The surname moved up 17 positions in the national ranking, going from #2,455 to #2,438.
Notable bearers
Famous people with the surname Merchant
FAQ
Merchant surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Merchant?
Name Census estimates that about 16,611 living Americans carry the surname Merchant. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 20,634 residents.
How common is Merchant?
Merchant ranks #2,438 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Uncommon." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 4.85 per 100,000 residents, which is about 5 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 14,486 people with the surname Merchant. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (16,611), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 4.85 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 4.85 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 5 of them to have the surname Merchant.
Has Merchant become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Merchant went from 14,692 recorded bearers to 14,486. That is a decrease of 206 (-1.4%). In the national ranking it rose from #2,455 to #2,438.
What does the Census say about the background of Merchant?
Among Census respondents with the surname Merchant, the largest self-reported group is White at 58.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.2%) and Black (14.9%). 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 Merchant in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.7% (8,509 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Merchant appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (58.7%), Asian/Pacific Islander (17.2%), Black (14.9%). 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 Merchant (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 Merchant mean?
An occupational surname referring to a merchant, trader, or someone who sells goods. 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 Merchant (4.85 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 share the surname Merchant?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.