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 coachArthur Ransome (1884–1967), British journalist, spy, and children's authorBrayton H. Ransom (1879–1925), American zoologist and parasitologistBrian Ransom (born 1940), Canadian politicianBrian Ransom (gridiron football) (born 1960), American player of gridiron footballCandice F. Ransom (living), American authorCody Ransom (born 1976), American professional baseball playerEpaphroditus Ransom (1798–1859), American state governor and state supreme court justiceHarry Ransom (1908–1976), chancellor of the University of Texas SystemJohn Crowe Ransom (1888–1974), American poet, essayist, social and political theorist, man of letters, and academicMatt Whitaker Ransom (1826–1904), American state politician and Civil War generalMelanie Ransom (living), Canadian politicianMike Ransom (born 1977), American musicianP. J. G. Ransom, British non-fiction authorReverdy Cassius Ransom (1861–1959), African American Christian socialist, civil rights activist, and Methodist bishopRobert Ransom, Jr. (1828–1892), U.S. senator, civil engineer, and Civil War major generalThomas E. G. Ransom (1834–1864), American surveyor, civil engineer, real estate speculator, and Civil War generalFictional characters:
Cordelia Ransom, in David Weber's Honorverse series of novelsElwin Ransom, in C. S. Lewis's Space TrilogyMichael Ransom, from Strike Commando and Strike Commando 2