Hosier
surname · Latin script
Recorded for both men and women· direction only, no split published
Hosier is a surname written in the Latin script, with more bearers in China than in any other country. In South Sudan it is the 32nd most common surname. Recorded meaning: from OE hosa ‘hose’; a dealer or maker of stockings and socks, later also related to OFr *hosier; first attested William Husier 1180 Oseney (O).
- GBUnited Kingdom≈1 in 97K(inferred from the name graph)
- USUnited States1 in 107K
- SSSouth Sudan≈1 in 9.1K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- China (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 245 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 9.1K (inferred from the name graph)
≈8,900 people, est.
Highest-authority source
South Sudan, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
from OE hosa ‘hose’; a dealer or maker of stockings and socks, later also related to OFr *hosier; first attested William Husier 1180 Oseney (O).
Sources 1
- A Dictionary of English Surnames
Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Hosier counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN China | — | ≈8,900 est. | ≈1 in 157K | — | Hosier | 2 |
| US United States | — | 3,104 | 1 in 107K | 3.1K | Hosier | 245 |
| SS South Sudan | #32 | ≈1,200 est. | ≈1 in 9.1K | — | Hosier | 1 |
| GB United Kingdom | — | ≈680 est. | ≈1 in 97K | listed | Hosier | 85 |
| EG Egypt | — | ≈670 est. | ≈1 in 156K | — | Hosier | 2 |
| IE Ireland | — | ≈77 est. | ≈1 in 67K | — | Hosier | 1 |
| SG Singapore | — | ≈58 est. | ≈1 in 108K | — | Hosier | 3 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; the hanks-dictionary-surnames-1988 register. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Hosier is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
In English, occupational name for a maker or seller of leggings, from an agent derivative of Middle English hose (Old English hosa). Hose was the regular term for garments worn on the legs until the 18th century.
as a nameDictionary of American Family Names
In English, gings, from an agent deriv. of ME hose (OE hosa). Hose was the regular name for garments worn on the legs until the 18th cent. Cf. Heuse. Horsier see Ostler
as a nameThe Oxford Names Companion - The definitive guide to Surnames, First Names, and Place Names of the British Isles
occupational name for a fowler, a variant of Osler, or for an innkeeper, a reduced form of Ostler. In both cases, the initial H- is inorganic.
as a nameDictionary of American Family Names
In English, from an agent deriv. of ME hose (OE hosa). Hose was the regular name for garments worn on the legs until the 18th cent. Cf. Heuse.
as a nameA dictionary of surnames
occupational name for a maker of hose (garments for the legs), from Middle High German hose (see Hose 3) + the agent suffix -r.
as a nameDictionary of American Family Names
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Francis Hosierb. 1673Royal Navy officer
- Harry Hosierb. 1750USpreacher
- John Hosierb. 1928GBBritish musician and broadcaster
- Gerald D. Hosierb. 1941USattorney
- James Charles HosierGBBritish (active 1880-1906)
- William HosierEnglish Member of Parliament of the 15th century
- Edward HosierEnglish politician
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 12 sources across 4 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010 | 2010 | 3.1K | #10,380 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000 | 2000 | 2.8K | #10,404 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020 | 2020 | 2.3K | #12,791 |
| GB United Kingdom | A Dictionary of Surnames (Hanks & Hodges, 1988) | — | — | — |
| US United States | wru Name Dictionary — US surnames, Census 2010 subset (Khanna et al.) | — | — | — |
Reference works 4
- Dictionary of American Family Names
- The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Hosier mean, and where does it come from?
- from OE hosa ‘hose’; a dealer or maker of stockings and socks, later also related to OFr *hosier; first attested William Husier 1180 Oseney (O). Recorded by A Dictionary of English Surnames.
- In which country does Hosier have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 8.9 thousand people named Hosier in China, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled hosier.
- How common is the name Hosier?
- In the United States, the national register counted 3,104 people named Hosier in 2010, about 1 in 107 thousand residents.
- How common is Hosier compared with other names?
- In South Sudan, Hosier is the 32nd most common surname of 3,406 surnames recorded there.
What do you want to know about Hosier?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/hosierThe same payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. Rate-limited for casual use; a free API key gives 1,000 requests a day, and bulk access is licensed separately.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Hosier” — the 32nd most common surname in South Sudan. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.