Ransom (surname)

Ransom or Ransome is an English surname, also found in some trade names and military company names; it might derive either from the noun "ransom" or from contraction of "Ranulf's son". Notable people with the surname include:

• Alured Ransom (1908–1992), American college football coach
• Brayton H. Ransom (1879–1925), American zoologist and parasitologist
• Brian Ransom (politician) (1940–2020), Canadian politician
• Brian Ransom (gridiron football) (born 1960), American player of gridiron football
• Candice F. Ransom (born 1952), American author
• Cody Ransom (born 1976), American professional baseball player
• Emma S. Ransom (1864-1943), African-American educator and clubwoman
• Epaphroditus Ransom (1798–1859), American state governor and state supreme court justice
• Freeman Ransom (1880–1947), American lawyer, civil rights advocate, and businessman
• Harry Ransom (1908–1976), chancellor of the University of Texas System
• John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974), American poet, essayist, social and political theorist, man of letters, and academic
• Matt Whitaker Ransom (1826–1904), American state politician and Civil War general
• Melanie Ransom (living), Canadian politician
• Mike Ransom (born 1977), American musician
• P. J. G. Ransom (1935–2019), British non-fiction author
• Reverdy Cassius Ransom (1861–1959), African American Christian socialist, civil rights activist, and Methodist bishop
• Robert Ransom, Jr. (1828–1892), U.S. senator, civil engineer, and Civil War major general
• Robin Ransom (born 1967), American judge
• Thomas E. G. Ransom (1834–1864), American surveyor, civil engineer, real estate speculator, and Civil War general
• Truman B. Ransom (1802 – 1847), Vermont educator and military officer who served as President of Norwich University and commander of a regiment in the Mexican–American War. He was killed at the Battle of Chapultepec.
• Willard Ransom (1916–1995), American lawyer, businessman, community civic leader, and a civil rights activist