NameCensus.

UK surname

Beatson

A surname likely derived from the Germanic personal name Beatus, meaning "blessed".

In the 1881 census there were 561 people recorded with the Beatson surname, ranking it #6,174 among surnames in the records. By 2016, the modern count was 723, ranked #7,514, down from #6,174 in 1881.

The strongest historical links point to Abernethy, Edinburgh and Dundee, Liff, Benvie and Invergowry. In the modern distribution records, the strongest local clusters include Sheffield.

Across the surname records, the highest recorded count for Beatson is 733 in 2014. Compared with 1881, the name has grown by 28.9%.

1881 census count

561

Ranked #6,174

Modern count

723

2016, ranked #7,514

Peak year

2014

733 bearers

Map years

9

1851 to 2016

Key insights

  • Beatson had 561 recorded bearers in 1881, making it the #6,174 surname in that year.
  • The latest modern count shown here is 723 in 2016, ranked #7,514.
  • Within the historical census years, the highest count was 723 in 1901.
  • The contemporary neighbourhood profile most associated with the surname is Small Town Suburbia.

Beatson surname distribution map

The map shows where the Beatson surname is concentrated in each census or modern distribution year. Darker areas mean a stronger local concentration.

Distribution map

Beatson surname density by area, 1881 census.

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Lower densityMedium densityHigh density

Timeline

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Beatson over time

The table below tracks recorded surname counts and rank from the 19th-century census years through the modern adult-register period.

Year Period Count Rank
1851 historical 438 #5,615
1861 historical 499 #5,242
1881 historical 561 #6,174
1891 historical 687 #5,701
1901 historical 723 #6,121
1911 historical 454 #8,445
1997 modern 696 #7,278
1998 modern 703 #7,455
1999 modern 710 #7,437
2000 modern 691 #7,557
2001 modern 677 #7,551
2002 modern 671 #7,765
2003 modern 652 #7,816
2004 modern 653 #7,807
2005 modern 640 #7,855
2006 modern 640 #7,902
2007 modern 657 #7,798
2008 modern 656 #7,860
2009 modern 681 #7,817
2010 modern 702 #7,761
2011 modern 712 #7,595
2012 modern 725 #7,420
2013 modern 722 #7,554
2014 modern 733 #7,519
2015 modern 729 #7,492
2016 modern 723 #7,514

Geography

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Where Beatsons are most common

Historical parish links are strongest around Abernethy, Edinburgh, Dundee, Liff, Benvie and Invergowry, Glasgow and Sheffield. These are the places where the surname stands out most clearly in the older records.

The modern local-area list points to Sheffield. Treat these as concentration signals, not proof that every family line began there.

Some modern areas include a three-digit suffix, such as Leeds 110. The suffix is a small-area code, so it stays in the table while the prose uses the plain place name.

Top historical parishes

Rank Parish Area
1 Abernethy Perth
2 Edinburgh Edinburgh
3 Dundee, Liff, Benvie and Invergowry Forfar
4 Glasgow Lanark
5 Sheffield Yorkshire, West Riding

Top modern areas

Rank Area District
1 Sheffield 060 Sheffield
2 Sheffield 024 Sheffield
3 Sheffield 054 Sheffield
4 Sheffield 012 Sheffield
5 Sheffield 051 Sheffield

Forenames

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First names often paired with Beatson

These lists show first names that appear often with the Beatson surname in historical and recent records.

Modern profile

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Neighbourhood profile for Beatson

Modern surname records can be compared with neighbourhood classifications. For Beatson, this points to the kinds of places where the surname is most concentrated today.

These neighbourhood labels describe areas, not individual people. They are useful because surnames often cluster through family history, migration, housing patterns and local work. A surname can be strongest in one type of neighbourhood even when people with that name live across the country.

The UK classification gives the national picture. The London classification is more specific to the capital, where housing, age profile, tenure and population mix can look quite different from the rest of the UK.

UK neighbourhood type

UK Output Area Classification

Supergroup

Retired Professionals

Group

Small Town Suburbia

Nationally, the Beatson surname is most associated with neighbourhoods classed as Small Town Suburbia, within Retired Professionals. This does not mean every Beatson household fits that profile, but it gives a useful signal about where the modern surname distribution is strongest.

Read profile summary

Group profile

This Group is predominantly comprised of married couples with no resident dependent children, living in areas characterised neither by under-occupancy nor overcrowding throughout the UK in or adjacent to small towns. White ethnic groups and affiliation with Christianity predominates. Housing tends to be predominantly semi-detached or detached and workers are employed principally in managerial and professional occupations, with semi-skilled occupations also in evidence. These areas of the Supergroup are of higher population density.

Wider pattern

Typically married but no longer with resident dependent children, these well-educated households either remain working in their managerial, professional, administrative or other skilled occupations, or are retired from them – the modal individual age is beyond normal retirement age. Underoccupied detached and semi-detached properties predominate, and unpaid care is more prevalent than reported disability. The prevalence of this Supergroup outside most urban conurbations indicates that rural lifestyles prevail, typically sustained by using two or more cars per household.

London neighbourhood type

London Output Area Classification

Supergroup

Professional Employment and Family Lifecycles

Group

Inner London Working Professionals

Within London, Beatson is most associated with areas classed as Inner London Working Professionals, part of Professional Employment and Family Lifecycles. This gives the surname a London-specific profile rather than forcing the capital into the same pattern as the rest of the country.

Read profile summary

Group profile

These primarily Inner London neighbourhoods are more densely populated than the Supergroup average. Residents have a younger over-all age profile than the Supergroup as a whole, and are less likely to be owner occupiers. Full time employment is more common than elsewhere in the Supergroup and multiple car ownership is uncommon. Chinese and non-EU-born European migrants are less in evidence than elsewhere in the Supergroup.

Wider London pattern

These neighbourhoods house people of all ages, predominantly of White British or European extraction. Resident turnover is low. Religious affiliation is less common than average and tends to be Christian if expressed. Homeownership, typically of terraced houses, is common but use of the social rented sector is not. Employment is typically in professional, managerial and associate professional or technical occupations. There are few full-time students. Level 4 qualifications are common. More households lack dependent children than have them which, considered alongside low levels of crowding and over-all age structure, indicates that many households may be post child-rearing and in late middle age. Incidence of disability is low, as is residence in communal establishments.

Healthy neighbourhoods

Access to healthy assets and hazards

Beatson is most concentrated in decile 7 for access to healthy assets and hazards. This places the surname near the middle of the scale.

Lower deciles point towards weaker access to healthy assets or stronger exposure to local hazards. Higher deciles point towards stronger access and fewer hazards.

7
Lower access Higher access

Neighbourhood deprivation

Index of Multiple Deprivation

Beatson falls in decile 1 for neighbourhood deprivation. This puts the surname towards the more deprived end of the index.

Decile 1 represents the more deprived end of the scale. Decile 10 represents the less deprived end.

1
More deprived Less deprived

Broadband speed

Fixed broadband download speed

The modern neighbourhood pattern for Beatson is most associated with a typical fixed broadband download band of 30-40 mbit/s.

The scale below places that band in context, from slower local download bands through to faster ones.

6
Slower band Faster band

Area snapshot

Ethnic group estimate

Most common ethnic group estimate
White - British

This describes the area pattern most associated with Beatson, not the ethnicity of every person with the surname.

Meaning and origin of Beatson

The surname Beatson has its origins in Scotland, dating back to the 16th century. It is believed to be a derivative of the Scottish Gaelic name "Beaton," which means "son of the little Bey." The name was particularly prevalent in the regions of Angus, Fife, and the Hebrides islands.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Beatson can be found in the Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, which mentions a James Beatson in 1569. The name is also known to have appeared in various parish records and documents from the 16th and 17th centuries.

In the late 16th century, a notable figure named John Beatson served as a physician to King James VI of Scotland. He was born in Fife around 1545 and played a significant role in the medical community of his time.

During the 17th century, the Beatson family established themselves as landowners in the parish of Arbroath, Angus. One of the earliest recorded landowners with this surname was James Beatson, who acquired the estate of Balluther in 1628.

The 18th century saw the rise of a prominent Scottish mathematician and naval officer named Robert Beatson. Born in Viborg, Denmark, in 1742, he served in the Royal Navy and made significant contributions to the field of navigation and nautical astronomy.

Another notable figure with the surname Beatson was Benjamin Wills Newton Beatson, a British physician and medical writer. Born in 1802 in Rotherham, Yorkshire, he published several works on tropical diseases and served as a surgeon in the British East India Company.

In the 19th century, George Stewart Beatson, born in 1848 in Campbeltown, Scotland, gained recognition as a pioneering surgeon. He performed one of the first successful operations to remove a tumor from the abdominal cavity, paving the way for modern surgical techniques.

The name Beatson has also been associated with various locations, such as Beatson's Buildings in Greenock, Scotland, and Beatson Cancer Centre in Glasgow, named after the surgeon George Thomas Beatson, who lived from 1871 to 1950.

Sourced from namecensus.com.

1881 census detail

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Beatson families in the 1881 census

These tables use 1881 census entries for people recorded with the Beatson surname. Use the location tables for concentration, then the name and occupation tables for the people behind the surname.

Top counties

Total is the county count. Frequency and index adjust for local population size, so they are better concentration signals. Yorkshire leads with 205 Beatsons recorded in 1881 and an index of 3.79x.

County Total Index
Yorkshire 205 3.79x
Midlothian 67 9.16x
Lancashire 54 0.83x
Fife 40 12.37x
Lanarkshire 37 2.09x
Perthshire 37 15.09x
Angus 18 3.56x
Kent 17 0.91x
Renfrewshire 14 3.31x
Stirlingshire 13 6.45x
Clackmannanshire 8 17.73x
Devon 8 0.70x
Middlesex 8 0.15x
Aberdeenshire 7 1.38x
Bedfordshire 4 1.41x
Kinross-shire 4 28.96x
East Lothian 3 4.15x
Surrey 3 0.11x
Derbyshire 2 0.23x
Northumberland 2 0.25x
Sussex 2 0.22x
Dunbartonshire 1 0.68x
Glamorgan 1 0.11x
Gloucestershire 1 0.09x
Roxburghshire 1 1.01x
Staffordshire 1 0.05x
Wiltshire 1 0.21x
Worcestershire 1 0.14x

Top districts and towns

Districts give a more local view than counties. Total shows raw records, while frequency and index show local concentration. Ecclesall Bierlow in Yorkshire leads with 53 Beatsons recorded in 1881 and an index of 48.13x.

Place Total Index
Ecclesall Bierlow 53 48.13x
Sheffield 39 22.63x
Brightside Bierlow 28 26.37x
Edinburgh St Cuthberts 23 7.81x
Govan 21 4.81x
Thornhill 20 126.58x
Abernethy 18 562.50x
Heeley 17 103.34x
Dundee 15 7.94x
Duddingston 14 95.30x
Dover St James 11 134.64x
Glasgow 10 3.19x
Kinghorn 10 145.77x
Kirkcaldy 10 62.34x
Nether Hallam 10 13.65x
Falkirk 9 19.08x
Manchester 9 3.09x
Clackmannan 8 93.79x
Edinburgh Greenside 8 82.73x
Clayton Le Woods 7 1147.54x
Gorton 7 11.49x
Leyland 7 62.06x
North Leith 7 20.67x
Shitlington 7 125.00x
South Leith 7 8.50x
East Greenock 6 15.01x
Ecclesfield 6 15.12x
Port Glasgow 6 29.31x
Tulliallan 6 144.58x
Yalding 6 127.39x
Barony 5 1.12x
Crigglestone 5 95.97x
Culsalmond 5 320.51x
East Teignmouth 5 107.53x
Huddersfield 5 6.34x
Hulme 5 3.69x
Kinglassie 5 203.25x
Perth Middle Church 5 54.23x
Perth St Pauls 5 88.03x
Bedford St Paul 4 20.62x
Kimberworth 4 13.32x
Liverpool 4 1.02x
Orwell 4 104.99x
Wapping London 4 95.92x
Withington 4 19.16x
Auchterderran 3 36.90x
Auchtermuchty 3 69.12x
Auchtertool 3 223.88x
Edinburgh St Andrews 3 49.67x
Islington London 3 0.57x
Openshaw 3 9.88x
Rotherham 3 9.83x
Stirling 3 11.81x
Bradford 2 1.53x
Byker 2 4.98x
Camberwell 2 0.57x
Colinton 2 24.51x
Haddington 2 18.73x
Liff Benvie 2 2.60x
Newton 2 4.00x
Newton Abbot St Mary 2 20.96x
Totley 2 160.00x
Toxteth Park 2 0.91x
York Holy Trinity 2 42.74x
Aberdeen Old Machar 1 0.95x
Aberdeen St Nicholas 1 1.06x
Blackford 1 33.33x
Bootle Cum Linacre 1 1.94x
Cardross 1 5.67x
Cathcart 1 4.37x
Croydon 1 0.68x
Dunfermline 1 2.01x
Edinburgh St Marys 1 7.03x
Edinburgh St Stephens 1 6.94x
Great Malvern 1 6.72x
Halifax 1 1.26x
Lilliesleaf 1 74.63x
Little Dunkeld 1 24.04x
Temple 1 34.36x
Whittinghame 1 83.33x

Top female names

These are the female first names most often recorded with the Beatson surname in 1881. Names are not merged, so initials, variant spellings and transcription quirks can appear as separate rows.

Name Count
Mary 15
Sarah 15
Ann 13
Elizabeth 10
Annie 6
Hannah 6
Florence 5
Ada 4
Agnes 4
Clara 4
Emma 4
Martha 4
Charlotte 3
Ellen 3
Emily 3
Jane 3
Maria 3
Zillah 3
Anne 2
Caroline 2
Eliza 2
Eva 2
Helen 2
Isabella 2
Julia 2
Louisa 2
Margaret 2
Millicent 2
Rebecca 2
Ruth 2
Eliz'h 1
Elizbth. 1
Elizt. 1
Ema 1
Ethel 1
Fanney 1
Fanny 1
Gertrude 1
Hamilton 1
Harriet 1
Infant 1
Jemimah 1
Katherine 1
Kathleen 1
Mabel 1
May 1
Meneva 1
Nelley 1
Nora 1
Polly 1

Top male names

These are the male first names most often recorded with the Beatson surname in 1881. Names are not merged, so initials, variant spellings and transcription quirks can appear as separate rows.

Name Count
John 22
George 17
William 13
Thomas 9
Charles 8
Joseph 8
Albert 5
Arthur 3
Frederick 3
Leonard 3
Walter 3
Alfred 2
Benjamin 2
David 2
Edward 2
Harry 2
Henry 2
Isaac 2
James 2
Matthew 2
Michael 2
Samuel 2
Sandy 2
Bernard 1
Claude 1
Ernest 1
Frances 1
Frank 1
Fred. 1
Fredrick 1
Godfrey 1
Gordon 1
Harold 1
Hy. 1
Irwin 1
Jno. 1
Joe 1
Jonathan 1
Josh. 1
Lennox 1
Luke 1
Mathew 1
Peter 1
Richd. 1
Robt. 1
Roger 1
Sidney 1
Thos. 1
Tom 1
Wm. 1

FAQ

Beatson surname: questions and answers

How common was the Beatson surname in 1881?

In 1881, 561 people were recorded with the Beatson surname. That placed it at #6,174 in the surname rankings for that year.

How common is the Beatson surname today?

The latest modern count shown here is 723 in 2016. That gives Beatson a modern rank of #7,514.

What does the Beatson surname mean?

A surname likely derived from the Germanic personal name Beatus, meaning "blessed".

What does the Beatson map show?

The map shows local surname concentration for the selected year. Darker areas have a stronger concentration of Beatson bearers relative to the surrounding population.

What records is this surname page based on?

The historical counts come from census surname records. The modern counts and neighbourhood summaries come from later surname distribution records. Counts are recorded bearers in those records, not a live estimate of everyone with the name today.