The Rainwater surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 7,111 people carried this name — #4,949 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 41,500 people counted. That is up 3% from 6,880 in 2000.

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In print

Rainwater in American newspapers,
1876.

Newspaper page from The Indian Journal carrying the name Rainwater
The Indian Journal 1876-05-25

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain.

In print

Rainwater in Australian newspapers,
1890s–1990s.

103 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Rainwater. The most, 36, date from the 1980s. Weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, it stands out most in South Australia, at 3.7 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

South Australia 53
New South Wales 21
Victoria 12
Queensland 7
Western Australia 5
Tasmania 3
ACT (Canberra) 1

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Rainwater.

Who carried it

People named Rainwater,
with a public archive behind them.

  • James Rainwater
    James Rainwater 1917–1986 · physicist
  • Manford W. Rainwater 1913–1997 · politician
  • Frank Hays Rainwater 1921– · geologist
  • Janette Rainwater 1923– · psychologist
  • Marvin Rainwater 1925–2013 · composer
  • Lee Rainwater 1928–2015 · pedagogue

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Rainwater,
in the records of 2 countries.

Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.

United States354 records

354 records of the Rainwater name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 264
  • U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 81
  • U.S. service members who died in the Vietnam War 4
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 3
  • U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 1
  • New York State death index (outside NYC), 1957–2001 1
  1. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Jewel Lee Rainwater

    Born 1949; from Van Buren, Arkansas. U.S. Army, clerk-typist; killed in action 1968 in Thua Thien, South Vietnam. Buried at Fort Smith National Cemetery, Arkansas.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Joseph W. Rainwater

    Born 1922 in Tennessee. Enlisted 1942 at Peoria, Illinois; printing. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1986, buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Missouri.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  3. A U.S. Army record of death and interment, Camp Nelson, Kentucky, 1864
    Example: U.S. burial record, 1864
    Burial record David G. Rainwater

    U.S. Army veteran of World War I. Born 1889, died 1980; buried at Mountain Home National Cemetery, Tennessee.

    U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)

Showing 3 of 354 records for Rainwater in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Record of death and interment, Camp Nelson, Kentucky, 1864, U.S. National Archives (public domain).

Netherlands1 record

1 record of the Rainwater name in the Netherlands Dutch population registers
  1. A page of the 1910 United States census, Milwaukee
    Example: U.S. census, 1910
    Population register Edward Harriman Rainwater

    In the population register of 's-Gravenhage; born 1909 in Waynesboro.

    Open Archives, Haags Gemeentearchief (CC BY 4.0)

Counts: Open Archives (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: U.S. census of 1910, Milwaukee (public domain).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Rainwater.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Rainwater is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

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