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
Arthur Ransome (1884–1967), British journalist, spy, and children's author
Brayton H. Ransom (1879–1925), American zoologist and parasitologist
Brian Ransom (born 1940), Canadian politician
Brian Ransom (gridiron football) (born 1960), American player of gridiron football
Candice F. Ransom (living), American author
Cody Ransom (born 1976), American professional baseball player
Epaphroditus Ransom (1798–1859), American state governor and state supreme court justice
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, 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
Thomas E. G. Ransom (1834–1864), American surveyor, civil engineer, real estate speculator, and Civil War general
Fictional characters:
Cordelia Ransom, in David Weber's Honorverse series of novels
Elwin Ransom, in C. S. Lewis's Space Trilogy
Michael Ransom, from Strike Commando and Strike Commando 2
