FastNamesTurner Surname
English and French surname meaning "Occupational surname derived from Anglo-Norman French tornor (Old French tourneur, Late Latin tornator), signifying 'one who turns wood, metal, bone, or horn on a lathe'.". Ranked 54th in the United States with 348,627 recorded bearers in the 2010 Census (118.2 per 100,000 Americans).
Meaning and origin of the surname Turner
Occupational surname derived from Anglo-Norman French tornor (Old French tourneur, Late Latin tornator), signifying 'one who turns wood, metal, bone, or horn on a lathe'.
Historically and linguistically, Turner belongs to the English and French family of surnames. It is conventionally pronounced "TUR-nər".
United States Census frequency and ranking
In the official 2010 United States Census, Turner was recorded 348,627 times, ranking as the 54th most common surname in the nation.
This represents an incidence rate of approximately 118.19 bearers per 100,000 Americans, or roughly 1 out of every 846 residents.
Race and ethnicity distribution
According to official decennial Census genealogy microdata, individuals bearing the surname Turnerreported the following racial and ethnic affiliations in the 2010 US Census:
| Racial or ethnic group | Share of bearers |
|---|---|
| White | 64.25% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 2.23% |
| Black or African American | 30.13% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.42% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.60% |
| Two or more races | 2.38% |
Source: US Census Bureau, 2010 Census Surnames Data. Percentages may not sum to exactly 100% due to independent rounding or suppression of small cell counts for privacy protection.
History of the surname Turner
Turner is an occupational surname rooted in the Anglo-Norman French term tornor (from Old French torneur and Latin tornator), denoting a craftsman who operates a lathe to turn wood, bone, ivory, or metal into rounded objects such as bowls, spindles, chair legs, and tool handles. The lathe was one of the central mechanical technologies of medieval European craft production, making turners indispensable guild artisans.
Early English records document the name across numerous counties starting in the twelfth century, including Ralph le Turnur in Staffordshire (1180) and Bernard le Turnur in London (1202). In addition to lathe-turners, onomastic scholars note that in some northern English and Anglo-French contexts, the name could also refer to a 'turnspit' (one who turned the roasting spit in a manor kitchen) or a participant in equestrian tournaments (Old French tournoi).
Turner was heavily represented among early English colonists settling the Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts Bay, and Virginia in the seventeenth century, including early merchant mariners and craftsmen. In the 2010 United States Census, Turner ranked 54th in national surname frequency with 348,627 recorded individuals, demonstrating widespread presence throughout all fifty American states.
Notable people with the surname Turner
- Tina Turner (1939–2023), American-born singer known as the 'Queen of Rock 'n' Roll'
- Ted Turner (1938–), American media proprietor and founder of CNN
- J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851), English Romanticist landscape painter
- Lana Turner (1921–1995), American classic film actress and pin-up model
Variants and related surnames
Spelling variants
Related surnames
Sources and references
- Patrick Hanks, Richard Coates, Peter McClure. The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland (2016), p. 2728.
- P. H. Reaney, R. M. Wilson. A Dictionary of English Surnames (1997), p. 457.
- U.S. Census Bureau. 2010 Census Surnames Data (2016). Reference link.