NameCensus.

UK surname

Bidwell

From English place names meaning "dweller by the ford near a building," or "dweller by the wide spring."

In the 1881 census there were 738 people recorded with the Bidwell surname, ranking it #4,965 among surnames in the records. By 2016, the modern count was 1,222, ranked #4,872, up from #4,965 in 1881.

The strongest historical links point to Bristol City: St Mary Redcliff, Coveney, Manea, Mepal, Downham, Witcham, Witchford, Wentworth and London parishes. In the modern distribution records, the strongest local clusters include Chelmsford, South Northamptonshire and East Cambridgeshire.

Across the surname records, the highest recorded count for Bidwell is 1,320 in 1999. Compared with 1881, the name has grown by 65.6%.

1881 census count

738

Ranked #4,965

Modern count

1,222

2016, ranked #4,872

Peak year

1999

1,320 bearers

Map years

9

1851 to 2016

Key insights

  • Bidwell had 738 recorded bearers in 1881, making it the #4,965 surname in that year.
  • The latest modern count shown here is 1,222 in 2016, ranked #4,872.
  • Within the historical census years, the highest count was 1,090 in 1911.
  • The contemporary neighbourhood profile most associated with the surname is Rural Amenity.

Bidwell surname distribution map

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

Distribution map

Bidwell surname density by area, 1881 census.

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Lower densityMedium densityHigh density

Timeline

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Bidwell 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 399 #6,051
1861 historical 387 #6,620
1881 historical 738 #4,965
1891 historical 781 #5,140
1901 historical 959 #4,897
1911 historical 1,090 #4,257
1997 modern 1,263 #4,511
1998 modern 1,314 #4,523
1999 modern 1,320 #4,541
2000 modern 1,314 #4,528
2001 modern 1,284 #4,534
2002 modern 1,313 #4,534
2003 modern 1,281 #4,540
2004 modern 1,271 #4,577
2005 modern 1,258 #4,570
2006 modern 1,257 #4,578
2007 modern 1,265 #4,591
2008 modern 1,248 #4,687
2009 modern 1,297 #4,618
2010 modern 1,296 #4,715
2011 modern 1,273 #4,739
2012 modern 1,256 #4,716
2013 modern 1,263 #4,784
2014 modern 1,264 #4,805
2015 modern 1,241 #4,830
2016 modern 1,222 #4,872

Geography

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Where Bidwells are most common

Historical parish links are strongest around Bristol City: St Mary Redcliff, Coveney, Manea, Mepal, Downham, Witcham, Witchford, Wentworth, London parishes, Ely Trinity and Frensham. These are the places where the surname stands out most clearly in the older records.

The modern local-area list points to Chelmsford, South Northamptonshire, East Cambridgeshire, Uttlesford and Bath and North East Somerset. 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 Bristol City: St Mary Redcliff Gloucestershire
2 Coveney, Manea, Mepal, Downham, Witcham, Witchford, Wentworth Cambridgeshire
3 London parishes London 3
4 Ely Trinity Cambridgeshire
5 Frensham Surrey

Top modern areas

Rank Area District
1 Chelmsford 006 Chelmsford
2 South Northamptonshire 006 South Northamptonshire
3 East Cambridgeshire 001 East Cambridgeshire
4 Uttlesford 001 Uttlesford
5 Bath and North East Somerset 024 Bath and North East Somerset

Forenames

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First names often paired with Bidwell

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

Modern profile

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Neighbourhood profile for Bidwell

Modern surname records can be compared with neighbourhood classifications. For Bidwell, 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

Suburbanites and Peri-Urbanities

Group

Rural Amenity

Nationally, the Bidwell surname is most associated with neighbourhoods classed as Rural Amenity, within Suburbanites and Peri-Urbanities. This does not mean every Bidwell 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 comprises older parents or retirees, with no resident dependent children, and with the lowest residential densities in this Supergroup. Predominantly UK-born, residents typically live in detached houses, although others do live in semi-detached and terraced properties. The level of multiple car ownership is the highest in this Supergroup. Most houses are owner occupied although social renting is also present. Many concentrations occur in high amenity rural locations, such as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Wider pattern

Pervasive throughout the UK, members of this Supergroup typically own (or are buying) their detached, semi-detached or terraced homes. They are also typically educated to A Level/Highers or degree level and work in skilled or professional occupations. Typically born in the UK, some families have children, although the median adult age is above 45 and some property has become under-occupied after children have left home. This Supergroup is pervasive not only in suburban locations, but also in neighbourhoods at or beyond the edge of cities that adjoin rural parts of the country.

London neighbourhood type

London Output Area Classification

Supergroup

Professional Employment and Family Lifecycles

Group

Inner London Working Professionals

Within London, Bidwell 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

Bidwell is most concentrated in decile 4 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.

4
Lower access Higher access

Neighbourhood deprivation

Index of Multiple Deprivation

Bidwell falls in decile 6 for neighbourhood deprivation. This puts the surname near the middle of the scale.

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

6
More deprived Less deprived

Broadband speed

Fixed broadband download speed

The modern neighbourhood pattern for Bidwell 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 Bidwell, not the ethnicity of every person with the surname.

Meaning and origin of Bidwell

The surname Bidwell is of English origin and can be traced back to the late 12th century. It is a locational name derived from the place name Bidwell, which is found in both Somerset and Devonshire. The name is believed to have originated from the Old English words "byd" meaning "dwelling" and "well" referring to a spring or stream, suggesting that the name refers to a dwelling near a well or stream.

One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Bidwell can be found in the Feet of Fines for Devonshire in 1242, where a William de Bydewelle is mentioned. This reference suggests that the name was already well-established by the 13th century.

The Bidwell surname has been documented in various historical records throughout the centuries. In the Hearth Tax Rolls of 1662-1666, several Bidwell families were recorded living in Devonshire and Somerset. The name also appears in the Subsidy Rolls for Sussex in 1628, indicating its spread across different regions of England.

Notable individuals with the surname Bidwell include John Bidwell (1819-1900), an American pioneer and founder of the city of Chico, California. Another prominent figure was Walter Bidwell (1785-1872), an English clergyman and author who served as the rector of Halberton in Devonshire.

In the 16th century, Thomas Bidwell (c. 1530-1585) was a prominent English churchman who served as the Archdeacon of Buckingham and later became the Dean of Salisbury Cathedral. Richard Bidwell (c. 1600-1647) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1640 and 1647.

Barnabas Bidwell (1763-1833) was an American Revolutionary War soldier and landowner in Massachusetts. He was a direct descendant of one of the earliest Bidwell settlers in America, Richard Bidwell, who arrived in Hertford, Connecticut in the 1630s.

While the Bidwell surname has its roots in England, it has since spread to various parts of the world, particularly through migration and settlement patterns. However, the earliest recorded examples and historical references to the name can be traced back to its English origins and the locational name from which it derived.

Sourced from namecensus.com.

1881 census detail

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Bidwell families in the 1881 census

These tables use 1881 census entries for people recorded with the Bidwell 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. Cambridgeshire leads with 109 Bidwells recorded in 1881 and an index of 23.97x.

County Total Index
Cambridgeshire 109 23.97x
Middlesex 107 1.49x
Surrey 98 2.80x
Norfolk 81 7.34x
Suffolk 80 9.15x
Lancashire 30 0.35x
Devon 28 1.87x
Yorkshire 23 0.32x
Huntingdonshire 19 13.33x
Wiltshire 17 2.68x
Essex 16 1.13x
Oxfordshire 16 3.61x
Gloucestershire 14 0.99x
Kent 14 0.57x
Somerset 13 1.12x
Buckinghamshire 11 2.53x
Durham 9 0.42x
Glamorgan 7 0.56x
Hertfordshire 7 1.41x
Sussex 7 0.58x
Cheshire 6 0.38x
Northamptonshire 6 0.89x
Lincolnshire 4 0.35x
Berkshire 3 0.56x
Hampshire 3 0.20x
Brecknockshire 2 1.39x
Cornwall 2 0.25x
Bedfordshire 1 0.27x
Caithness 1 1.02x
Herefordshire 1 0.34x
Northumberland 1 0.09x

Top districts and towns

Districts give a more local view than counties. Total shows raw records, while frequency and index show local concentration. Ely Holy Trinity St Mary in Cambridgeshire leads with 39 Bidwells recorded in 1881 and an index of 196.67x.

Place Total Index
Ely Holy Trinity St Mary 39 196.67x
Frensham 26 505.84x
Islington London 22 3.16x
Kensington London 21 5.26x
St Andrewthe Less 19 36.57x
Camberwell 15 3.27x
Newchurch 13 18.65x
Salisbury St Thomas 13 258.45x
Sapiston 12 1846.15x
Todmorden Walsden 12 52.59x
Downham 11 227.74x
Stanton 10 483.09x
Hessett 9 857.14x
Sudbury St Gregory 9 128.39x
Wandsworth 9 13.02x
Fakenham Magna 8 1702.13x
Lee 8 22.49x
Paddington London 8 3.03x
Quy 8 930.23x
Seale 8 357.14x
Shoreditch London 8 2.57x
St Giles Cambridge 8 136.29x
Tankersley 8 150.94x
Walthamstow 8 15.68x
Welney 8 317.46x
West Teignmouth 8 69.99x
Bethnal Green London 7 2.24x
Bristol St Philip Jacob 7 5.28x
Bury St Edmunds St James 7 29.97x
Chesterton 7 49.93x
Datchet 7 235.69x
Holy Trinity Cambridge 7 141.99x
Weston Super Mare 7 23.99x
Wimbledon 7 17.82x
Brightside Bierlow 6 4.30x
Caterham 6 38.81x
Ecclesfield 6 11.50x
Edmonton 6 10.37x
Great Dunham 6 618.56x
Heigham 6 10.13x
Hethersett 6 215.05x
Liscard 6 21.02x
Poplar London 6 4.43x
Rackheath 6 810.81x
Somerleyton 6 408.16x
Sprowston 6 123.20x
Swansea Town 6 5.85x
Taynton 6 740.74x
Thetford St Cuthbert 6 150.38x
Thorpe Next Norwich 6 51.28x
West Ham 6 1.92x
Bluntisham 5 187.27x
Chertsey 5 22.11x
East Teignmouth 5 81.83x
Farnham 5 18.38x
Great Plumstead 5 609.76x
Hastings St Mary 5 16.59x
Ipswich St Margaret 5 16.85x
St Marylebone London 5 1.30x
Stoke Newington London 5 8.94x
Tackley 5 375.94x
Thorverton 5 220.26x
Bressingham 4 320.00x
Bristol St Paul In 4 10.66x
Bygrave 4 677.97x
Gainsborough 4 14.78x
Great Paxton 4 625.00x
Kettering 4 14.65x
Lambeth 4 0.64x
Limehouse London 4 5.07x
Simpson 4 219.78x
Stranton 4 5.56x
Streatham 4 7.51x
Downham Market 3 39.58x
Godmanchester 3 55.66x
Horton In Bradford 3 2.70x
Iveston 3 30.49x
Kirby Bedon 3 454.55x
Lyncombe Widcombe 3 9.91x
St Ives 3 40.60x

Top female names

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

Top male names

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

Name Count
William 44
John 33
James 24
George 22
Charles 21
Edward 16
Thomas 16
Henry 14
Arthur 12
Frederick 10
Walter 8
Alfred 7
Robert 7
Richard 6
David 5
Harry 5
Samuel 5
Benjamin 4
Herbert 4
Frank 3
Isaac 3
Stephen 3
Andrew 2
Chas. 2
Ernest 2
Joseph 2
Leonard 2
Saml. 2
Thos. 2
Wm. 2
Albert 1
Algernon 1
Austin 1
B. 1
Charlie 1
Edmund 1
Edwin 1
Elijah 1
Ephraim 1
Ethel 1
Ethsaque 1
F. 1
F.W. 1
Francis 1
Herbart 1
Hy. 1
J.A.S. 1
Jesse 1
Johnathan 1
Jonathan 1

FAQ

Bidwell surname: questions and answers

How common was the Bidwell surname in 1881?

In 1881, 738 people were recorded with the Bidwell surname. That placed it at #4,965 in the surname rankings for that year.

How common is the Bidwell surname today?

The latest modern count shown here is 1,222 in 2016. That gives Bidwell a modern rank of #4,872.

What does the Bidwell surname mean?

From English place names meaning "dweller by the ford near a building," or "dweller by the wide spring."

What does the Bidwell map show?

The map shows local surname concentration for the selected year. Darker areas have a stronger concentration of Bidwell 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.