NameCensus.

UK surname

Burnside

A locational surname derived from a place beside a stream or the burnt side of a hill.

In the 1881 census there were 1,052 people recorded with the Burnside surname, ranking it #3,746 among surnames in the records. By 2016, the modern count was 1,806, ranked #3,504, up from #3,746 in 1881.

The strongest historical links point to Darlington, Govan Combination and Edinburgh. In the modern distribution records, the strongest local clusters include Darlington, Douglas, Coalburn and Rigside and Pumpherston and Uphall Station.

Across the surname records, the highest recorded count for Burnside is 1,819 in 2014. Compared with 1881, the name has grown by 71.7%.

1881 census count

1,052

Ranked #3,746

Modern count

1,806

2016, ranked #3,504

Peak year

2014

1,819 bearers

Map years

9

1851 to 2016

Key insights

  • Burnside had 1,052 recorded bearers in 1881, making it the #3,746 surname in that year.
  • The latest modern count shown here is 1,806 in 2016, ranked #3,504.
  • Within the historical census years, the highest count was 1,328 in 1901.
  • The contemporary neighbourhood profile most associated with the surname is Established but Challenged.

Burnside surname distribution map

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

Distribution map

Burnside surname density by area, 1881 census.

Loading map
Lower densityMedium densityHigh density

Timeline

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Burnside 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 631 #4,113
1861 historical 792 #3,479
1881 historical 1,052 #3,746
1891 historical 1,154 #3,699
1901 historical 1,328 #3,772
1911 historical 621 #6,661
1997 modern 1,704 #3,498
1998 modern 1,756 #3,537
1999 modern 1,775 #3,521
2000 modern 1,742 #3,566
2001 modern 1,704 #3,573
2002 modern 1,774 #3,515
2003 modern 1,766 #3,450
2004 modern 1,767 #3,454
2005 modern 1,745 #3,460
2006 modern 1,747 #3,467
2007 modern 1,766 #3,462
2008 modern 1,781 #3,463
2009 modern 1,796 #3,515
2010 modern 1,798 #3,571
2011 modern 1,779 #3,567
2012 modern 1,757 #3,539
2013 modern 1,789 #3,548
2014 modern 1,819 #3,523
2015 modern 1,817 #3,498
2016 modern 1,806 #3,504

Geography

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Where Burnsides are most common

Historical parish links are strongest around Darlington, Govan Combination, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Paisley Abbey. These are the places where the surname stands out most clearly in the older records.

The modern local-area list points to Darlington, Douglas, Coalburn and Rigside, Pumpherston and Uphall Station and Bradford. 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 Darlington Durham
2 Govan Combination Lanark
3 Edinburgh Edinburgh
4 Glasgow Lanark
5 Paisley Abbey Renfrew

Top modern areas

Rank Area District
1 Darlington 012 Darlington
2 Darlington 013 Darlington
3 Douglas, Coalburn and Rigside South Lanarkshire
4 Pumpherston and Uphall Station West Lothian
5 Bradford 052 Bradford

Forenames

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First names often paired with Burnside

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

Modern profile

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Neighbourhood profile for Burnside

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

Semi- and Un-Skilled Workforce

Group

Established but Challenged

Nationally, the Burnside surname is most associated with neighbourhoods classed as Established but Challenged, within Semi- and Un-Skilled Workforce. This does not mean every Burnside household fits that profile, but it gives a useful signal about where the modern surname distribution is strongest.

Read profile summary

Group profile

Many households in these neighbourhoods comprise separated or divorced single parents with dependent children. Residents are typically born in the UK, and these neighbourhoods have relatively few members of ethnic minorities. The prevalence of children, their parents and those at or above normal retirement age, suggests neighbourhood structures may be long-established. Levels of unpaid care are high, and long-term disability is more common than in the Supergroup as a whole. Use of the social rented sector is common, often in terraced houses. Levels of overcrowding are above the Supergroup average. Unemployment is high, while those in work are employed in elementary occupations such as caring, leisure and customer services. Many residents have low level qualifications. Neighbourhood concentrations of this Group are found in the South Wales Valleys, Belfast, Londonderry and the Central Lowlands of Scotland.

Wider pattern

Living in terraced or semi-detached houses, residents of these neighbourhoods typically lack high levels of education and work in elementary or routine service occupations. Unemployment is above average. Residents are predominantly born in the UK, and residents are also predominantly from ethnic minorities. Social (but not private sector) rented sector housing is common. This Supergroup is found throughout the UK’s conurbations and industrial regions but is also an integral part of smaller towns.

London neighbourhood type

London Output Area Classification

Supergroup

The Greater London Mix

Group

Skilled Trades and Construction Workers

Within London, Burnside is most associated with areas classed as Skilled Trades and Construction Workers, part of The Greater London Mix. 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 scattered, peripheral and often low residential density neighbourhoods house more workers in skilled trades and construction. Few households rent social housing and there are few students. Multiple car ownership is higher than the Supergroup average, perhaps because of poorer public transport connectivity. Incidence of mixed or multiple ethnicity is below the Supergroup average, and the absence of individuals identifying as Pakistani or Other Asian groups is also less pronounced. Flatted accommodation is less dominant than elsewhere in the Supergroup.

Wider London pattern

A Supergroup embodying London's diversity in many respects, apart from low numbers of residents identifying as of Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani or Other (non-Chinese) Asian ethnicity. There is lower than average prevalence of families with dependent children, while there are above average occurrences of never-married individuals and single-person households. The age distribution is skewed towards younger, single residents and couples without children, with many individuals identifying as of mixed or multiple ethnicity. Social rented or private rented housing is slightly more prevalent than average, and many residents live in flats. Individuals typically work in professional and associated roles in public administration, education or health rather than in elementary occupations in agriculture, energy, water, construction or manufacturing. Incidence of students is slightly below average. Individuals declaring no religion are more prevalent than average and non-use of English at home is below average.

Healthy neighbourhoods

Access to healthy assets and hazards

Burnside is most concentrated in decile 1 for access to healthy assets and hazards. This places the surname towards the less healthy end of the index.

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

1
Lower access Higher access

Neighbourhood deprivation

Index of Multiple Deprivation

Burnside 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 Burnside 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 Burnside, not the ethnicity of every person with the surname.

Meaning and origin of Burnside

The surname Burnside has its origins in England, with records dating back to the 13th century. It is a locational name derived from the Old English words "burna" meaning a small stream or brook, and "side" meaning a slope or hillside. Thus, the name likely referred to someone who lived near a small stream on a hillside.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is found in the Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire in 1273, which mentions a Robert de Burneside. Another early reference is in the Subsidy Rolls of Yorkshire from 1297, listing a John de Burnesyde.

The Burnside surname is associated with various place names in England, such as Burnside in Westmorland (now part of Cumbria), Burnside in Lancashire, and Burnside in Yorkshire. These place names likely gave rise to the surname as people migrated from these areas and adopted the locational name as their surname.

In the 16th century, the Burnside surname appears in the Parish Registers of Bury, Lancashire, with the baptism of William Burnside recorded in 1592. Another notable early record is the marriage of John Burnside and Elizabeth Harwood in Manchester in 1625.

Ambrose Burnside (1824-1881) was a famous American soldier and politician who served as a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He is best remembered for his distinctive facial hair style, known as the "burnside" sideburns.

Other notable individuals with the Burnside surname include:

1. Alexander Burnside (1756-1841), a Scottish merchant and landowner in Virginia. 2. Robert Burnside (1759-1826), a Scottish-born American pioneer and politician in Pennsylvania. 3. James Burnside (1826-1894), a Canadian politician and lawyer who served as a member of the Senate of Canada. 4. Dorothy Burnside (1892-1988), an American actress and vaudeville performer. 5. John Burnside (born 1955), a Scottish writer and poet who won the T.S. Eliot Prize in 2011.

Sourced from namecensus.com.

1881 census detail

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Burnside families in the 1881 census

These tables use 1881 census entries for people recorded with the Burnside 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. Lanarkshire leads with 311 Burnsides recorded in 1881 and an index of 9.39x.

County Total Index
Lanarkshire 311 9.39x
Durham 142 4.66x
East Lothian 97 71.50x
Midlothian 96 7.00x
Renfrewshire 51 6.43x
Lancashire 50 0.41x
Yorkshire 45 0.44x
Middlesex 39 0.38x
Dunbartonshire 38 13.81x
Ayrshire 25 3.26x
Berwickshire 16 12.90x
Kent 16 0.46x
Surrey 16 0.32x
Northumberland 13 0.85x
Essex 9 0.45x
Berkshire 8 1.04x
Hertfordshire 7 0.99x
Kirkcudbrightshire 7 4.72x
Perthshire 7 1.52x
Warwickshire 7 0.27x
Norfolk 6 0.38x
Buteshire 5 8.06x
Denbighshire 4 1.03x
Hampshire 4 0.19x
Inverness-shire 4 1.31x
Nottinghamshire 4 0.29x
Cheshire 3 0.13x
Dumfriesshire 3 1.33x
Stirlingshire 3 0.79x
Leicestershire 2 0.18x
Somerset 2 0.12x
West Lothian 2 1.30x
Buckinghamshire 1 0.16x
Channel Islands 1 0.33x
Clackmannanshire 1 1.18x
Cumberland 1 0.11x
Fife 1 0.16x
Gloucestershire 1 0.05x
Peeblesshire 1 2.08x
Sussex 1 0.06x

Top districts and towns

Districts give a more local view than counties. Total shows raw records, while frequency and index show local concentration. Glasgow in Lanarkshire leads with 115 Burnsides recorded in 1881 and an index of 19.55x.

Place Total Index
Glasgow 115 19.55x
Barony 74 8.83x
Govan 49 5.98x
South Leith 32 20.72x
Edinburgh St Cuthberts 31 5.62x
Chester Le Street 27 115.38x
Lesmahagow 24 68.51x
West Greenock 22 15.44x
Bishopwearmouth 21 8.03x
New Kilpatrick 20 76.39x
Stockton On Tees 19 12.94x
Cadder 17 69.47x
Old Kilpatrick 16 49.19x
Darlington 14 11.90x
Dunbar 14 73.61x
Liverpool 14 1.90x
Haddington 13 64.90x
Great Aycliffe 12 406.78x
Pencaitland 12 310.08x
Whitby 12 35.08x
Cambusnethan 11 14.95x
Gladsmuir 11 181.82x
Dirleton 10 187.62x
Abbey 9 7.43x
Edinburgh Greenside 9 49.64x
Garvald 9 335.82x
Guisbrough 9 40.58x
Ealing 8 8.74x
Edinburgh Buccleuch 8 24.65x
Habergham Eaves 8 7.20x
Hanwell 8 44.05x
Islington London 8 0.81x
Old Monkland 8 6.09x
Sunderland 8 14.86x
Winkfield 8 62.70x
Edrom 7 131.83x
Gateshead 7 3.07x
Hertingfordbury 7 243.06x
Muirkirk 7 38.89x
Westgate 7 7.42x
Whitekirk Tynninghame 7 188.68x
Woolwich 7 5.42x
Birmingham 6 0.70x
Dalry 6 173.41x
Great Yarmouth 6 4.60x
Kirkdale 6 2.93x
Logie 6 36.39x
Paisley High Church 6 9.49x
Shotts 6 15.14x
Wandsworth 6 6.09x
West Calder 6 22.18x
Westoe 6 3.47x
Battersea 5 1.33x
Chorlton On Medlock 5 2.59x
Coylton 5 45.96x
Framwellgate 5 27.70x
Hetton Le Hole 5 12.95x
Hulme 5 1.97x
Paisley Low Church 5 19.90x
Prestonkirk 5 73.75x
Rothesay 5 16.64x
Wombwell 5 16.90x
Yester 5 153.37x
Ayr 4 11.06x
Barnsley 4 3.82x
Brampton Bierlow 4 30.77x
Finchingfield 4 63.09x
Inverness 4 5.20x
Kilmarnock 4 4.38x
Lambeth 4 0.45x
Lauder 4 58.39x
Llangollen Bache 4 90.91x
Manchester 4 0.73x
Spott 4 197.04x
St Marylebone London 4 0.73x
Larbert 3 13.29x
Monkwearmouth Shore 3 5.04x
Neilston 3 7.53x
Wanstead 3 8.47x
Whitechapel London 3 2.97x

Top female names

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

Name Count
Mary 29
Elizabeth 13
Ann 9
Margaret 9
Sarah 9
Jane 8
Annie 7
Catherine 5
Eliza 5
Isabella 5
Ada 4
Alice 4
Helen 3
Agnes 2
Anne 2
Annes 2
Clara 2
Eleanor 2
Ellen 2
Esther 2
Fanny 2
Florence 2
Frances 2
Hannah 2
Jeanie 2
Laura 2
Mabel 2
Margret 2
Marguerite 2
Rachael 2
Susan 2
Amy 1
Arabella 1
Augusta 1
Beatrice 1
Charlotte 1
Diana 1
Dorothy 1
Edith 1
Eily 1
Elevirth 1
Eliz. 1
Elizbth. 1
Harriet 1
Helena 1
Ida 1
Janet 1
Jesse 1
Julia 1
Wilhelmina 1

Top male names

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

Name Count
John 29
William 28
Robert 16
James 15
Edward 10
Henry 6
Thomas 6
Ambrose 5
George 5
Archibald 4
David 3
Frederick 3
Joseph 3
Matthew 3
Andrew 2
Benjamin 2
Francis 2
Jonas 2
Richard 2
Allan 1
Amb. 1
Arthur 1
Ashworth 1
Benjaman 1
Bertram 1
Charles 1
Edmund 1
Elias 1
Ernest 1
Henery 1
Hugh 1
J. 1
J.C.D. 1
J.R.G. 1
Jas. 1
Jas.Edward 1
Jas.H. 1
Luke 1
Mark 1
Mathew 1
Norris 1
Patrick 1
Richd. 1
Sam'l 1
Samuel 1
Septimus 1
Terrence 1
Thos. 1
Thos.H. 1
Willm.B. 1

FAQ

Burnside surname: questions and answers

How common was the Burnside surname in 1881?

In 1881, 1,052 people were recorded with the Burnside surname. That placed it at #3,746 in the surname rankings for that year.

How common is the Burnside surname today?

The latest modern count shown here is 1,806 in 2016. That gives Burnside a modern rank of #3,504.

What does the Burnside surname mean?

A locational surname derived from a place beside a stream or the burnt side of a hill.

What does the Burnside map show?

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