Race
A surname that may come from a local word for a watercourse or tidal race, though some bearers may have a different origin.
The #6,632 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 60,444 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In Lower’s surname dictionary, Race is linked to a regional English word for a small stream or mill-stream, and also to a tidal rush of water, as in a sea race. That fits the Old Norse word rás, meaning a watercourse, channel, or race. As a surname, it likely began as a topographic name for someone living by such a feature, though some lines may have a different source.
History
Lower specifically notes the form in Yorkshire and in southern England, showing that the name could be attached to local landscape vocabulary rather than a single place-name. The surname is uncommon, and the historical record suggests more than one possible origin for different families. Because of that, it should be treated as a name with a likely topographic base but not a single certain derivation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower mentions Portland Race as an example of the tidal meaning of the word, showing that the surname comes from an ordinary geographic term as well as a family name.
From the historical record
“RACE. In Yorkshire, a rivulet; in the South, a mill-stream ; also the meeting of two tides, as Portland Race. The H.R. Race, without prefix, api^ears to point to some other origin. RACHEL. See Female Christian Names. RACINE. Fr. a root— a singular but illustrious surname in France. We have also the synonymous…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom