1881 census county

Fife surnames in the 1881 census

This page ranks surnames recorded in Fife 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

3,227 surnames are listed for Fife, covering 155,059 people in the county records.

The leading surname here is Thomson, with 3,001 people recorded in 1881.

Most common surnames in Fife

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	3,001	1.74%	12.99x
2	Robertson	2,927	1.69%	10.10x
3	Brown	2,660	1.54%	2.33x
4	Wilson	2,509	1.45%	3.16x
5	Anderson	2,321	1.34%	6.79x
6	Smith	2,246	1.30%	0.92x
7	Scott	1,726	1.00%	3.94x
8	Henderson	1,714	0.990%	9.12x
9	Mitchell	1,448	0.840%	4.13x
10	Simpson	1,361	0.790%	4.50x
11	Watson	1,254	0.730%	3.13x
12	Beveridge	1,145	0.660%	63.61x
13	Walker	1,131	0.650%	1.95x
14	Taylor	1,110	0.640%	1.00x
15	Young	1,076	0.620%	2.90x
16	Wallace	1,053	0.610%	8.89x
17	Stewart	1,009	0.580%	3.73x
18	Hunter	993	0.570%	5.59x
19	Clark	984	0.570%	1.89x
20	Paterson	961	0.560%	8.17x
21	Allan	947	0.550%	8.72x
22	Campbell	935	0.540%	3.19x
23	Adamson	930	0.540%	20.33x
24	Black	908	0.530%	8.11x
25	Reid	845	0.490%	4.65x
26	Johnston	756	0.440%	5.42x
27	Bell	753	0.440%	2.32x
28	Morris	749	0.430%	1.95x
29	Christie	742	0.430%	13.23x
30	Williamson	717	0.410%	4.62x
31	Davidson	714	0.410%	4.91x
32	Ramsay	664	0.380%	14.91x
33	Melville	663	0.380%	36.31x
34	Russell	656	0.380%	3.11x
35	Ritchie	646	0.370%	10.81x
36	Philp	625	0.360%	53.03x
37	Lawson	617	0.360%	6.05x
38	Birrell	614	0.360%	72.83x
39	Donaldson	611	0.350%	12.39x
40	Millar	603	0.350%	9.55x
41	Miller	600	0.350%	1.94x
42	Nicol	597	0.350%	16.58x
43	Ross	592	0.340%	3.13x
44	Blyth	591	0.340%	21.68x
45	Laing	586	0.340%	16.87x
46	Mackie	585	0.340%	15.82x
47	Martin	584	0.340%	1.37x
48	Dewar	565	0.330%	25.05x
49	Hutchison	559	0.320%	19.66x
50	Aitken	551	0.320%	12.14x
51	Barclay	548	0.320%	15.40x
52	Gray	544	0.310%	2.20x
53	Cook	542	0.310%	1.58x
54	Murray	525	0.300%	2.45x
55	White	524	0.300%	0.94x
56	Dick	520	0.300%	13.48x
57	Graham	514	0.300%	2.59x
58	Wilkie	510	0.290%	20.68x
59	Hutton	509	0.290%	9.86x
60	Greig	505	0.290%	18.45x
61	Bruce	503	0.290%	6.21x
62	Rodger	496	0.290%	20.40x
63	Herd	490	0.280%	38.59x
64	Lindsay	484	0.280%	8.59x
65	Gibson	476	0.280%	2.27x
66	Spence	476	0.280%	8.32x
67	Muir	474	0.270%	7.16x
68	Reekie	474	0.270%	113.69x
69	Smart	473	0.270%	6.01x
70	Dryburgh	467	0.270%	114.87x
71	Galloway	461	0.270%	15.48x
72	Marshall	460	0.270%	1.59x
73	Penman	456	0.260%	40.31x
74	Sharp	445	0.260%	3.09x
75	Chalmers	440	0.250%	10.69x
76	Grieve	439	0.250%	21.91x
77	Morrison	439	0.250%	3.23x
78	Ferguson	438	0.250%	3.57x
79	Elder	431	0.250%	23.60x
80	Burt	428	0.250%	10.42x
81	Wishart	422	0.240%	31.15x
82	Whyte	419	0.240%	14.29x
83	Webster	416	0.240%	2.77x
84	Meldrum	415	0.240%	38.10x
85	Wood	408	0.240%	0.74x
86	Paton	406	0.230%	10.49x
87	Moyes	398	0.230%	53.64x
88	Balfour	393	0.230%	32.63x
89	Page	389	0.220%	2.81x
90	Drummond	384	0.220%	11.17x
91	Ness	379	0.220%	48.29x
92	Gourlay	373	0.220%	38.91x
93	Wright	363	0.210%	0.65x
94	Kidd	362	0.210%	10.28x
95	Deas	361	0.210%	71.12x
96	Lumsden	358	0.210%	24.82x
97	Keddie	352	0.200%	68.03x
98	Todd	352	0.200%	4.00x
99	Inglis	344	0.200%	11.91x
100	Pearson	342	0.200%	1.70x