NameCensus.

UK surname

Greenwood

An English toponymic surname denoting someone who lived near a forest or wooded area.

In the 1881 census there were 23,239 people recorded with the Greenwood surname, ranking it #146 among surnames in the records. By 2016, the modern count was 20,777, ranked #288, down from #146 in 1881.

The strongest historical links point to Rochdale, Halifax and Bradford. In the modern distribution records, the strongest local clusters include Calderdale.

Across the surname records, the highest recorded count for Greenwood is 28,364 in 1911. Compared with 1881, the name has fallen by 10.6%.

1881 census count

23,239

Ranked #146

Modern count

20,777

2016, ranked #288

Peak year

1911

28,364 bearers

Map years

9

1851 to 2016

Key insights

  • Greenwood had 23,239 recorded bearers in 1881, making it the #146 surname in that year.
  • The latest modern count shown here is 20,777 in 2016, ranked #288.
  • Within the historical census years, the highest count was 28,364 in 1911.
  • The contemporary neighbourhood profile most associated with the surname is Inner Suburbs and Small Town Living.

Greenwood surname distribution map

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

Distribution map

Greenwood surname density by area, 1881 census.

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Lower densityMedium densityHigh density

Timeline

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Greenwood 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 15,795 #137
1861 historical 17,106 #123
1881 historical 23,239 #146
1891 historical 25,096 #139
1901 historical 26,895 #161
1911 historical 28,364 #137
1997 modern 21,092 #274
1998 modern 21,738 #280
1999 modern 21,925 #280
2000 modern 21,969 #275
2001 modern 21,414 #275
2002 modern 21,541 #282
2003 modern 20,975 #282
2004 modern 20,957 #281
2005 modern 20,713 #280
2006 modern 20,672 #280
2007 modern 20,698 #281
2008 modern 20,671 #285
2009 modern 21,114 #285
2010 modern 21,397 #286
2011 modern 21,088 #285
2012 modern 20,611 #284
2013 modern 21,093 #285
2014 modern 21,207 #284
2015 modern 20,976 #284
2016 modern 20,777 #288

Geography

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Where Greenwoods are most common

Historical parish links are strongest around Rochdale, Halifax, Bradford and Keighley. These are the places where the surname stands out most clearly in the older records.

The modern local-area list points to Calderdale. 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 Rochdale Lancashire
2 Halifax Yorkshire, West Riding
3 Bradford Yorkshire, West Riding
4 Rochdale Yorkshire, West Riding
5 Keighley Yorkshire, West Riding

Top modern areas

Rank Area District
1 Calderdale 004 Calderdale
2 Calderdale 007 Calderdale
3 Calderdale 013 Calderdale
4 Calderdale 017 Calderdale
5 Calderdale 026 Calderdale

Forenames

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First names often paired with Greenwood

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

Modern profile

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Neighbourhood profile for Greenwood

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

Inner Suburbs and Small Town Living

Nationally, the Greenwood surname is most associated with neighbourhoods classed as Inner Suburbs and Small Town Living, within Suburbanites and Peri-Urbanities. This does not mean every Greenwood household fits that profile, but it gives a useful signal about where the modern surname distribution is strongest.

Read profile summary

Group profile

Families with resident dependent children (but not students) are common. Established family groups and White ethnicity predominate, as do individuals born in the UK. They are more likely than the Supergroup average to have been resident in their terraced, semi-detached, or detached houses for more than one year. Levels of multiple car ownership are high. Properties are owned and typically have surplus living space. Associate professionals and administrative occupations are prevalent, and parents are likely to be in middle age or approaching retirement. Educational attainment is above the Supergroup average. Scattered developments and concentrations are found in many small towns.

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

The Greater London Mix

Group

Social Rented Sector Professional Support Workers

Within London, Greenwood is most associated with areas classed as Social Rented Sector Professional Support 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

Mainly located in Inner London, these neighbourhoods retain a diverse employment structure, with some concentration in associated professional and technical occupations rather than skilled trades or construction. Social renting is more common and levels of homeownership are low. Many residents identify as Black. There is a lower than average rate of marriage or civil partnership, few that are very old (85 or over) and higher than average incidence of disability.

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

Greenwood is most concentrated in decile 2 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.

2
Lower access Higher access

Neighbourhood deprivation

Index of Multiple Deprivation

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

Meaning and origin of Greenwood

The surname Greenwood is of English origin, originating in the 13th century. It is a topographic name, derived from the Old English words "grene" meaning green and "wudu" meaning wood, referring to someone who lived near or in a green wood or forest.

The name is found in early records such as the Hundred Rolls of 1273, where it appears as "de Grenewode" and "de Grenewode". It is also recorded in the Poll Tax Returns of Yorkshire from 1379, as "del Grenewode".

One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was John de Grenewode, who is mentioned in the Subsidy Rolls of Staffordshire in 1327. Another early bearer was Thomas de Grenewode, recorded in the Feet of Fines for Yorkshire in 1348.

The name is also associated with several place names in England, such as Greenwood in Lancashire and Greenwood in Nottinghamshire. These place names may have influenced the development and spread of the surname.

Notable individuals with the surname Greenwood throughout history include:

1. John Greenwood (c. 1555-1593), an English Puritan minister and writer who was executed for his beliefs during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

2. Thomas Greenwood (1638-1694), an English nonconformist minister and author.

3. Miles Greenwood (1807-1855), an English mechanical engineer and inventor who developed the Greenwood Stretcher, a device used in the textile industry.

4. Alfred Greenwood (1847-1927), an English journalist and editor of the Pall Mall Gazette.

5. Walter Greenwood (1903-1974), an English novelist best known for his novel "Love on the Dole", which depicted the harsh realities of life in the Great Depression.

While the surname Greenwood is predominantly English in origin, it has also been adopted by families in other countries, particularly in the United States and Canada, due to migration and immigration patterns over the centuries.

Sourced from namecensus.com.

1881 census detail

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Greenwood families in the 1881 census

These tables use 1881 census entries for people recorded with the Greenwood 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. Yorkshire leads with 10,958 Greenwoods recorded in 1881 and an index of 4.87x.

County Total Index
Yorkshire 10,958 4.87x
Lancashire 7,302 2.71x
Middlesex 959 0.42x
Surrey 481 0.44x
Cheshire 388 0.77x
Lincolnshire 221 0.61x
Durham 209 0.31x
Kent 189 0.24x
Essex 183 0.41x
Staffordshire 173 0.23x
Derbyshire 157 0.44x
Gloucestershire 149 0.33x
Hampshire 140 0.30x
Nottinghamshire 125 0.41x
Leicestershire 122 0.49x
Norfolk 121 0.35x
Warwickshire 117 0.20x
Suffolk 103 0.37x
Cornwall 92 0.36x
Wiltshire 86 0.43x
Devon 80 0.17x
Oxfordshire 62 0.44x
Huntingdonshire 61 1.35x
Sussex 61 0.16x
Berkshire 55 0.32x
Worcestershire 54 0.18x
Cumberland 53 0.27x
Lanarkshire 41 0.06x
Shropshire 41 0.21x
Cambridgeshire 40 0.28x
Glamorgan 39 0.10x
Somerset 34 0.09x
Buckinghamshire 32 0.23x
Westmorland 32 0.64x
Northumberland 30 0.09x
Northamptonshire 28 0.13x
Dorset 26 0.17x
Renfrewshire 20 0.11x
Hertfordshire 18 0.12x
Monmouthshire 15 0.09x
Montgomeryshire 14 0.27x
Herefordshire 13 0.14x
Radnorshire 13 0.71x
Ayrshire 12 0.07x
Bedfordshire 12 0.10x
Fife 12 0.09x
Stirlingshire 12 0.14x
Isle of Man 10 0.24x
Roxburghshire 10 0.24x
Dunbartonshire 9 0.15x
Anglesey 8 0.20x
Royal Navy 8 0.30x
Carmarthenshire 7 0.07x
Flintshire 6 0.10x
West Lothian 5 0.15x
Channel Islands 3 0.04x
Aberdeenshire 2 0.01x
Angus 1 0.00x
Argyllshire 1 0.02x
Caernarfonshire 1 0.01x
Wigtownshire 1 0.03x

Top districts and towns

Districts give a more local view than counties. Total shows raw records, while frequency and index show local concentration. Stansfield in Yorkshire leads with 989 Greenwoods recorded in 1881 and an index of 119.55x.

Place Total Index
Stansfield 989 119.55x
Halifax 764 23.15x
Wadsworth 618 168.88x
Spotland 496 16.57x
Todmorden Walsden 483 66.97x
Ovenden 406 40.58x
Heptonstall 405 128.39x
Newchurch 398 18.07x
Leeds 342 2.69x
Ashton Under Lyne 330 5.61x
Northowram 330 20.93x
Warley 313 48.17x
Bradford 303 5.57x
Oldham 300 3.45x
Langfield 299 76.02x
Sowerby In Halifax 297 40.40x
Horton In Bradford 296 8.43x
Keighley 295 12.31x
Blackburn 267 3.73x
Castleton 266 9.89x
Great Little Marsden 252 20.43x
Haworth 246 46.04x
Bingley 239 16.69x
Habergham Eaves 224 9.10x
Burnley 214 9.44x
Wardleworth 204 13.26x
Accrington 201 8.21x
Midgley 190 79.31x
Southowram 188 27.40x
Skircoat 179 20.19x
Manningham 166 5.99x
Erringden 164 112.93x
Preston 152 2.11x
Hunslet 146 4.16x
Manchester 144 1.19x
Blatchinworth 137 22.35x
Dewsbury 135 5.86x
Thornton In Bradford 130 17.37x
Haslingden 128 11.48x
Colne 113 14.09x
Islington London 105 0.48x
Wuerdle Wardle 105 12.85x
Bowling 102 4.58x
Heaton 101 41.82x
Hulme 99 1.76x
Salford 98 1.24x
Clayton 97 17.63x
Hackney London 94 0.74x
Batley 91 4.26x
Lambeth 91 0.46x
Hipperholme Cum 88 8.91x
Camberwell 87 0.60x
Calverley Cum Farsley 86 13.47x
Dukinfield 85 3.67x
Idle 83 7.96x
Butterworth 81 12.35x
Elland Cum Greetland 80 7.90x
St Pancras London 80 0.44x
Shipley 79 6.77x
Wortley In Bramley 79 4.44x
Higher Booths 74 15.25x
Wyke In Bradford 74 18.41x
Bethnal Green London 73 0.74x
Royton 73 8.86x
Heap 72 5.04x
Lower Booths 71 14.72x
Huddersfield 70 2.14x
Great Bolton 68 1.91x
Shoreditch London 66 0.67x
Oswaldtwistle 64 6.73x
North Bierley 61 5.03x
Barnsley 59 2.54x
Gomersal 59 5.62x
Bury 58 1.89x
Briercliffe Cum 53 59.40x
Chorlton On Medlock 53 1.24x
Cliviger 53 34.96x
Brightside Bierlow 51 1.16x
Chadderton 51 3.88x
Newington 50 0.60x

Top female names

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

Name Count
Mary 1,840
Sarah 1,156
Elizabeth 831
Ann 498
Hannah 490
Alice 446
Jane 409
Emma 353
Martha 341
Ellen 333
Annie 305
Eliza 238
Emily 205
Margaret 199
Grace 177
Betty 176
Ada 158
Clara 137
Maria 108
Susannah 108
Betsy 100
Louisa 97
Edith 93
Harriet 92
Lucy 83
Ruth 81
Florence 80
Charlotte 72
Susan 71
Fanny 70
Nancy 67
Anne 65
Frances 59
Caroline 56
Isabella 56
Esther 52
Catherine 48
Bertha 47
Agnes 45
Kate 45
Rebecca 40
Matilda 39
Eleanor 38
Sophia 38
Elizth. 37
Rachel 33
Amy 32
Amelia 30
Gertrude 29
Sally 28

Top male names

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

Name Count
John 1,587
William 1,105
James 922
Thomas 794
Joseph 490
George 471
Henry 349
Charles 306
Arthur 238
Robert 231
Samuel 190
Richard 187
Fred 167
Walter 159
Alfred 155
Harry 153
Albert 134
Edward 134
Herbert 120
David 115
Frank 108
Wm. 93
Ernest 84
Benjamin 81
Frederick 80
Abraham 70
Willie 68
Thos. 67
Edwin 62
Paul 60
Tom 55
Sam 54
Daniel 45
Francis 36
Sutcliffe 33
Jonathan 32
Edmund 31
Jonas 29
Isaac 28
Joshua 27
Jno. 26
Fredrick 25
Joe 25
Jas. 23
Luke 23
Mark 23
Chas. 22
Matthew 22
Stephen 22
Geo. 21

FAQ

Greenwood surname: questions and answers

How common was the Greenwood surname in 1881?

In 1881, 23,239 people were recorded with the Greenwood surname. That placed it at #146 in the surname rankings for that year.

How common is the Greenwood surname today?

The latest modern count shown here is 20,777 in 2016. That gives Greenwood a modern rank of #288.

What does the Greenwood surname mean?

An English toponymic surname denoting someone who lived near a forest or wooded area.

What does the Greenwood map show?

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