These Are The 100 Most Common Surnames In Yorkshire

These Are The 100 Most Common Surnames In Yorkshire

We all know the famous names of Yorkshire from Sean Bean, Jeremy Clarkson, Jessica Enis, Dame Judy Dench and Patrick Stewart. But, have you ever wondered about your heritage?

Well, thanks to the new list made by the online genealogy portal Forebears, you can see the county’s 100 most common surnames just to get a measure of how common you really are.

The top 3 names won’t be a surprise to most – with Smith, Taylor and Wilson taking the top spots. But naturally, it started to make us wonder more about the history of surnames.

Apparently, around 1066 surnames were introduced into England by Norman barons, and gradually spread across the nation forming some of the names we know well already.

In England alone, there are around 45,000 different surnames – each with its own history behind it. Sources for surnames are endless, but some common sources where names are derived are nicknames, physical attributes, counties, trades, heraldic charges, and almost every object known to mankind.

We’ve looked at a few of the top 3 most common Yorkshire ones.

Smith

There are over 46,000 Smiths in Yorkshire, and the name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon smitan, meaning “to smite or strike.” It comes from an occupational name for a man who works with metal.

Taylor

There are over 22,000 Taylors in God’s Own Country, and similar to Smith it has an occupational derivative. The English family name means “cutter of cloth” – but is derived from the old French word tailleor meaning “tailor”.

Wilson

Not far behind Taylor with just over 22,000 in Yorkshire as well, Wilson comes from the patronymic expression son of William or son of Wil.

  1. Smith 46,540
  2. Taylor 22,542
  3. Wilson 22,157
  4. Robinson 20,055
  5. Walker 19,911
  6. Wood 19,202
  7. Brown 17,279
  8. Jackson 16,188
  9. Thompson 15,838
  10. Harrison 13,780
  11. Shaw 13,721
  12. Johnson 13,628
  13. Wilkinson12,814
  14. Wright 12,438
  15. Ward 11,004
  16. Greenwood 10,974
  17. Hall 10,910
  18. Watson 10,483
  19. Barker 10,274
  20. Turner 9,897
  21. Atkinson 9,651
  22. Sykes 9,617
  23. Mitchell 9,204
  24. Marshall 9,177
  25. Holmes 9,119
  26. Green 9,050
  27. Simpson 8,747
  28. Haigh 8,236
  29. Pearson 8,191
  30. Richardson 8,167
  31. Lee 8,135
  32. Booth 8,083
  33. Ellis 7,933
  34. Hirst 7,862
  35. Foster 7,847
  36. Firth 7,845
  37. Hodgson 7,790
  38. Brook 7,740
  39. Parker 7,518
  40. Clark 7,514
  41. Hill 7,505
  42. Cooper 7,441
  43. White 7,298
  44. Hudson 7,217
  45. Hartley 7,169
  46. Dawson 7,094
  47. Scott 7,044
  48. Sutcliffe 7,024
  49. Bell 6,824
  50. Jones 6,784
  51. Roberts 6,768
  52. Rhodes 6,383
  53. Moore 6,271
  54. Gill 6,210
  55. Webster 6,082
  56. Dixon 5,996
  57. Schofield 5,680
  58. Stephenson 5,678
  59. Dyson 5,672
  60. Armitage 5,503
  61. Briggs 5,333
  62. Senior 5,301
  63. Carter 5,263
  64. Crowther 5,262
  65. Thornton 5,213
  66. Fletcher 5,164
  67. Naylor 5,062
  68. Bradley 4,828
  69. Beaumont 4,818
  70. Fox 4,767
  71. Nicholson 4,747
  72. Bailey 4,737
  73. Whitaker 4,734
  74. Chapman 4,711
  75. Gibson 4,659
  76. Sharp 4,659
  77. Hutchinson 4,620
  78. Spencer 4,600
  79. Riley 4,558
  80. Lister 4,551
  81. Whitehead 4,515
  82. Hanson 4,391
  83. Blackburn 4,389
  84. Stead 4,375
  85. Walton 4,370
  86. Cook 4,360
  87. Pickles 4,306
  88. Mason 4,283
  89. Carr 4,259
  90. Marsden 4,204
  91. Clayton 4,157
  92. Whiteley 4,086
  93. Parkin 4,064
  94. Fisher 4,051
  95. Dobson 3,962
  96. Lockwood 3,873
  97. Metcalfe 3,847
  98. Williams 3,834
  99. Holdsworth 3,814
  100. Clarke 3,808

Read More: 51 Yorkshire Words And Phrases That Mean Nothing To Anyone Else

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