1881 census county

West Lothian surnames in the 1881 census

This page ranks surnames recorded in West 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

2,020 surnames are listed for West Lothian, covering 37,326 people in the county records.

The leading surname here is Brown, with 701 people recorded in 1881.

Most common surnames in West 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	Brown	701	1.59%	2.42x
2	Smith	509	1.16%	0.82x
3	Robertson	495	1.13%	6.71x
4	Wilson	495	1.13%	2.45x
5	Thomson	482	1.10%	8.20x
6	Anderson	445	1.01%	5.12x
7	Russell	379	0.860%	7.06x
8	Hamilton	377	0.860%	11.42x
9	Marshall	364	0.830%	4.93x
10	Grant	327	0.740%	7.49x
11	Walker	322	0.730%	2.19x
12	Stewart	273	0.620%	3.97x
13	Johnston	268	0.610%	7.55x
14	White	258	0.590%	1.82x
15	Gray	248	0.560%	3.95x
16	Young	245	0.560%	2.59x
17	Scott	240	0.550%	2.16x
18	Kerr	235	0.530%	9.79x
19	Black	232	0.530%	8.14x
20	Henderson	232	0.530%	4.85x
21	Aitken	227	0.520%	19.66x
22	Campbell	224	0.510%	3.01x
23	Martin	211	0.480%	1.95x
24	Hunter	207	0.470%	4.58x
25	Graham	204	0.460%	4.04x
26	Miller	203	0.460%	2.58x
27	Reid	202	0.460%	4.37x
28	Simpson	196	0.450%	2.55x
29	Bell	195	0.440%	2.36x
30	Watson	189	0.430%	1.85x
31	Meikle	188	0.430%	59.39x
32	Fleming	186	0.420%	10.17x
33	Allan	177	0.400%	6.41x
34	Wallace	173	0.390%	5.74x
35	Bryce	172	0.390%	39.07x
36	Murray	172	0.390%	3.15x
37	Williamson	172	0.390%	4.36x
38	Taylor	171	0.390%	0.61x
39	Clark	169	0.380%	1.28x
40	Gardner	169	0.380%	5.66x
41	Paterson	167	0.380%	5.58x
42	Ritchie	165	0.380%	10.86x
43	Snedden	155	0.350%	261.16x
44	Mitchell	153	0.350%	1.71x
45	Stevenson	152	0.350%	4.92x
46	Kelly	151	0.340%	3.13x
47	Morrison	148	0.340%	4.28x
48	Muir	145	0.330%	8.61x
49	Dickson	143	0.330%	8.78x
50	Alexander	141	0.320%	6.05x
51	Potter	138	0.310%	4.84x
52	Donaldson	137	0.310%	10.92x
53	Calder	131	0.300%	21.29x
54	Nimmo	131	0.300%	66.85x
55	Gibson	129	0.290%	2.42x
56	Weir	129	0.290%	11.28x
57	Crawford	127	0.290%	5.90x
58	Easton	127	0.290%	19.03x
59	Baxter	123	0.280%	4.69x
60	Fraser	119	0.270%	3.04x
61	Hardie	119	0.270%	20.75x
62	Baird	118	0.270%	12.54x
63	Dick	116	0.260%	11.82x
64	Forrest	116	0.260%	10.23x
65	Johnstone	116	0.260%	5.83x
66	Shanks	115	0.260%	34.38x
67	Chapman	113	0.260%	1.81x
68	Davidson	108	0.250%	2.92x
69	Watt	108	0.250%	6.40x
70	Bishop	105	0.240%	3.42x
71	Ramsay	105	0.240%	9.27x
72	Anthony	100	0.230%	19.56x
73	Murphy	99	0.230%	2.82x
74	Meek	98	0.220%	19.16x
75	Wood	96	0.220%	0.68x
76	Boyd	95	0.220%	6.16x
77	Nicol	95	0.220%	10.37x
78	Roberts	95	0.220%	0.57x
79	Shaw	92	0.210%	1.14x
80	Blair	91	0.210%	7.98x
81	Jamieson	91	0.210%	7.43x
82	Hill	89	0.200%	0.79x
83	Binnie	88	0.200%	48.00x
84	Borthwick	88	0.200%	35.64x
85	Dunlop	88	0.200%	12.41x
86	Law	88	0.200%	4.42x
87	Millar	88	0.200%	5.48x
88	Ferguson	87	0.200%	2.79x
89	Gibb	87	0.200%	11.20x
90	Cameron	86	0.200%	2.52x
91	Fairley	86	0.200%	39.93x
92	Sneddon	86	0.200%	32.83x
93	Galloway	83	0.190%	10.95x
94	Ross	83	0.190%	1.73x
95	Inglis	82	0.190%	11.16x
96	Shields	80	0.180%	11.76x
97	Brodie	79	0.180%	13.38x
98	Chalmers	79	0.180%	7.54x
99	Mackie	77	0.180%	8.19x
100	Sommerville	77	0.180%	44.38x