The Rawls surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 11,679 people carried this name — #3,074 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 25,300 people counted. That is up 4% from 11,265 in 2000.

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What the name means

The meaning of the Rawls surname

A surname transferred from the given name.

Patronymic from a medieval form of the personal name Ralph.

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Rawls» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.

In the first U.S. census, 1790

56 families named Rawls, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 320 people lived in those households, 5.7 to a family on average. The table counts it together with 3 other spellings. The table lists white heads of families only, in the twelve states whose 1790 records survive; Virginia’s figures come from state lists of 1782–1785.

Families, by state

Virginia 23
North Carolina 21
South Carolina 8
New York 4

U.S. Census Bureau, «A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900» (Washington, 1909), table 111, p. 258 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.

In print

Rawls in American newspapers,
1903–1930.

Newspaper page from New Britain Herald carrying the name Rawls
New Britain Herald 1930-04-18
Newspaper page from The Indianapolis Journal carrying the name Rawls
The Indianapolis Journal 1903-06-28
Newspaper page from The Indianapolis Journal carrying the name Rawls
The Indianapolis Journal 1903-07-19

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 91,460 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Rawls in Australian newspapers,
1900s–1960s.

287 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Rawls. The most, 178, date from the 1930s.

Articles, by state

New South Wales 103
Queensland 73
Victoria 54
Western Australia 15
Tasmania 13
South Australia 9
ACT (Canberra) 4
Northern Territory 1

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

Who carried it

People named Rawls,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Morgan Rawls
    Morgan Rawls 1829–1906 · politician
  • Katherine Rawls
    Katherine Rawls 1917–1982 · aircraft pilot
  • John Rawls
    John Rawls 1921–2002 · politician
  • Betsy Rawls
    Betsy Rawls 1928–2023 · golfer
  • Wilson Rawls 1913–1984 · writer
  • Lou Rawls 1933–2006 · actor

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 9 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Rawls,
in the records of the United States.

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 States572 records

572 records of the Rawls name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 363
  • U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 145
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 38
  • New York State death index (outside NYC), 1957–2001 9
  • Riverside Cemetery, Asheville (North Carolina) 7
  • U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 3
  • U.S. service members who died in the Korean War 3
  • U.S. service members who died in the Vietnam War 3
  • Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 1
  1. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Eddie Rawls

    Born 1904 in Texas. Enlisted 1942 at Houston; warehouseman from Harris County. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1972, buried at Houston National Cemetery, Texas.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Charles W. Rawls

    Born 1930; from Hale County, Alabama. U.S. Army, light weapons infantry leader; killed in action 1953 in North Korea.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain)
  3. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Catherine Rawls

    Arrived at New York in 1858 aboard the Columbia from Liverpool, aged 16; servant. From Ireland.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)

Showing 3 of 572 records for Rawls in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · City of Asheville (public domain, PDDL) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Rawls.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Rawls 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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