1881 census county

East Lothian surnames in the 1881 census

This page ranks surnames recorded in East Lothian in 1881. The total column counts people with each surname in the county. Frequency shows the local share of the population. Index compares that share with the wider census.

County summary

1,784 surnames are listed for East Lothian, covering 33,434 people in the county records.

The leading surname here is Thomson, with 784 people recorded in 1881.

Most common surnames in East Lothian

Total favours larger counties and larger families. Frequency and index are better clues for where a surname stood out locally. Values above 1.00x mean the surname was more concentrated here than in the wider 1881 census.

#	Surname	Total	Frequency	Index
1	Thomson	784	2.03%	15.16x
2	Smith	601	1.55%	1.10x
3	Brown	502	1.30%	1.97x
4	Anderson	495	1.28%	6.48x
5	Dickson	448	1.16%	31.27x
6	Robertson	439	1.13%	6.77x
7	Scott	378	0.980%	3.86x
8	Young	363	0.940%	4.37x
9	Wilson	335	0.870%	1.89x
10	Johnston	329	0.850%	10.54x
11	Watt	326	0.840%	21.97x
12	Black	301	0.780%	12.01x
13	Henderson	274	0.710%	6.51x
14	Hunter	258	0.670%	6.49x
15	White	248	0.640%	1.99x
16	Wood	245	0.630%	1.99x
17	Stewart	224	0.580%	3.70x
18	Donaldson	213	0.550%	19.30x
19	Allan	205	0.530%	8.44x
20	Murray	192	0.500%	4.00x
21	Gordon	184	0.480%	7.54x
22	Bell	178	0.460%	2.45x
23	Reid	178	0.460%	4.38x
24	Paterson	174	0.450%	6.61x
25	Ross	173	0.450%	4.09x
26	Purves	168	0.430%	66.41x
27	Burns	167	0.430%	6.43x
28	Aitken	165	0.430%	16.25x
29	Logan	165	0.430%	17.98x
30	Ritchie	155	0.400%	11.59x
31	Kerr	154	0.400%	7.30x
32	Cockburn	148	0.380%	29.98x
33	Campbell	147	0.380%	2.24x
34	Gray	144	0.370%	2.61x
35	Turnbull	143	0.370%	8.77x
36	Watson	143	0.370%	1.59x
37	Denholm	142	0.370%	87.64x
38	Bathgate	135	0.350%	150.55x
39	Blair	135	0.350%	13.46x
40	Baillie	134	0.350%	33.37x
41	Hamilton	134	0.350%	4.62x
42	Cowe	133	0.340%	127.55x
43	Walker	133	0.340%	1.03x
44	Fraser	132	0.340%	3.83x
45	Tait	131	0.340%	11.50x
46	Amos	130	0.340%	20.45x
47	Davidson	130	0.340%	4.00x
48	Pow	125	0.320%	137.82x
49	Goodall	124	0.320%	14.96x
50	Marr	123	0.320%	27.87x
51	Aitchison	117	0.300%	43.14x
52	Howden	117	0.300%	59.65x
53	Paxton	113	0.290%	36.62x
54	Hardie	111	0.290%	22.01x
55	Forrest	105	0.270%	10.53x
56	Miller	103	0.270%	1.49x
57	Sanderson	102	0.260%	6.38x
58	Knox	100	0.260%	15.05x
59	Clark	99	0.260%	0.85x
60	King	99	0.260%	1.17x
61	Gibson	98	0.250%	2.09x
62	Burnside	97	0.250%	71.50x
63	Cowan	96	0.250%	12.16x
64	Christie	95	0.250%	7.57x
65	Simpson	95	0.250%	1.40x
66	Hay	94	0.240%	6.62x
67	Punton	94	0.240%	288.70x
68	Borthwick	92	0.240%	42.36x
69	Fairbairn	92	0.240%	32.19x
70	Richardson	91	0.240%	1.38x
71	Lawrie	89	0.230%	24.02x
72	Redpath	89	0.230%	49.55x
73	Pearson	88	0.230%	1.96x
74	Nisbet	87	0.220%	21.29x
75	Herkes	86	0.220%	500.58x
76	Wight	86	0.220%	43.19x
77	Rutherford	85	0.220%	9.00x
78	Hume	84	0.220%	15.30x
79	Archibald	83	0.210%	24.85x
80	Buchanan	83	0.210%	8.30x
81	Stevenson	83	0.210%	3.06x
82	Combe	82	0.210%	93.47x
83	Runciman	82	0.210%	188.90x
84	Wallace	82	0.210%	3.09x
85	Turner	81	0.210%	0.75x
86	Edmond	80	0.210%	61.24x
87	Lumsden	79	0.200%	24.48x
88	Porteous	79	0.200%	30.62x
89	Douglas	78	0.200%	4.16x
90	Peden	78	0.200%	99.78x
91	Wright	78	0.200%	0.63x
92	Mack	77	0.200%	19.79x
93	Mitchell	77	0.200%	0.98x
94	Ormiston	77	0.200%	69.21x
95	Sked	77	0.200%	397.32x
96	Comb	76	0.200%	291.19x
97	Malcolm	76	0.200%	14.94x
98	Grieve	75	0.190%	16.73x
99	Harkes	75	0.190%	315.52x
100	Neill	75	0.190%	29.27x