Humanities › History & Culture WRIGHT - Name Meaning & Origin Share Flipboard Email Print George Marks/Hulton Archive/Getty Images History & Culture Genealogy Surnames Basics Genealogy Fun Vital Records Around the World American History African American History African History Ancient History and Culture Asian History European History Inventions Latin American History Medieval & Renaissance History Military History The 20th Century Women's History View More By Kimberly Powell Genealogy Expert Certificate in Genealogical Research, Boston University B.A., Carnegie Mellon University Kimberly Powell is a professional genealogist and the author of The Everything Guide to Online Genealogy. She teaches at the Genealogical Institute of Pittsburgh and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. our editorial process Kimberly Powell Updated June 03, 2017 WRIGHT Surname Meaning & Origin: Wright is an occupational surname meaning "craftsman, builder," from the Old English wryhta meaning "worker." Wright is the 34th most popular surname in the United States and the 14th most common surname in England. Surname Origin: English Alternate Surname Spellings: WRIGHTE, RITE, WRITE, RIGHT, ALWRIGHT, ALLWRIGHT, OLDWRIGHT, WRYTE, WRAIGHT Famous People with the Surname WRIGHT: Wilbur and Orville Wright - flew the first airplane at Kitty Hawk, North CarolinaFrank Lloyd Wright - famous American architectMartha Coffin Wright - Quaker women's rights activist and sister of Lucretia Mott. Genealogy Resources for the Surname WRIGHT: 100 Most Common U.S. Surnames & Their MeaningsSmith, Johnson, Williams, Jones, Brown... Are you one of the millions of Americans sporting one of these top 100 common last names from the 2000 census? The Wright Family GenealogyA Web site dedicated to the descendants of William Wright (1707-1776) and his wife, Margaret. They were the original American patriarch and matriarch of a Scotch-Irish "Wright" family, who resided much of their lives in Augusta Co, Virginia. Wright DNA ProjectWright men (women don't carry Y-DNA) are invited to join this project to help match individual and families who share a common male ancestor of the Wright surname. Wright Family Genealogy ForumSearch this popular genealogy forum for the Wright surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Wright query. FamilySearch - WRIGHT GenealogyFind records, queries, and lineage-linked family trees posted for the Wright surname and its variations. WRIGHT Surname & Family Mailing ListsRootsWeb hosts several free mailing lists for researchers of the Wright surname. Cousin Connect - WRIGHT Genealogy QueriesRead or post genealogy queries for the surname Wright, and sign up for free notification when new Wright queries are added. DistantCousin.com - WRIGHT Genealogy & Family HistoryFree databases and genealogy links for the last name Wright. -- Looking for the meaning of a given name? Check out First Name Meanings -- Can't find your last name listed? Suggest a surname to be added to the Glossary of Surname Meanings & Origins. ----------------------- References: Surname Meanings & Origins Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. Menk, Lars. A Dictionary of German Jewish Surnames. Avotaynu, 2005. Beider, Alexander. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galicia. Avotaynu, 2004. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick. Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003. Smith, Elsdon C. American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997. >> Back to Glossary of Surname Meanings & Origins