NameCensus.

UK surname

Hargreaves

From the Old English "hār" and "grǣfe," referring to someone who lived near a grey or boundary grove.

In the 1881 census there were 12,498 people recorded with the Hargreaves surname, ranking it #337 among surnames in the records. By 2016, the modern count was 11,953, ranked #547, down from #337 in 1881.

The strongest historical links point to Rochdale, Bradford and Whalley. In the modern distribution records, the strongest local clusters include Burnley, Hyndburn and Pendle.

Across the surname records, the highest recorded count for Hargreaves is 15,774 in 1911. Compared with 1881, the name has stayed broadly stable by 4.4%.

1881 census count

12,498

Ranked #337

Modern count

11,953

2016, ranked #547

Peak year

1911

15,774 bearers

Map years

9

1851 to 2016

Key insights

  • Hargreaves had 12,498 recorded bearers in 1881, making it the #337 surname in that year.
  • The latest modern count shown here is 11,953 in 2016, ranked #547.
  • Within the historical census years, the highest count was 15,774 in 1911.
  • The contemporary neighbourhood profile most associated with the surname is Inner Suburbs and Small Town Living.

Hargreaves surname distribution map

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

Distribution map

Hargreaves surname density by area, 1881 census.

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Lower densityMedium densityHigh density

Timeline

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Hargreaves 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 4,948 #559
1861 historical 7,098 #398
1881 historical 12,498 #337
1891 historical 13,210 #329
1901 historical 14,782 #357
1911 historical 15,774 #307
1997 modern 11,922 #518
1998 modern 12,603 #509
1999 modern 12,668 #509
2000 modern 12,533 #514
2001 modern 12,300 #509
2002 modern 12,426 #517
2003 modern 12,147 #515
2004 modern 12,063 #521
2005 modern 11,889 #520
2006 modern 11,795 #528
2007 modern 11,846 #530
2008 modern 11,898 #530
2009 modern 12,170 #531
2010 modern 12,399 #535
2011 modern 12,114 #537
2012 modern 11,860 #540
2013 modern 12,124 #542
2014 modern 12,178 #545
2015 modern 12,030 #546
2016 modern 11,953 #547

Geography

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Where Hargreaves' are most common

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

The modern local-area list points to Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle and Ribble Valley. 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 Bradford Yorkshire, West Riding
3 Whalley Lancashire
4 Blackburn Lancashire

Top modern areas

Rank Area District
1 Burnley 014 Burnley
2 Hyndburn 004 Hyndburn
3 Pendle 008 Pendle
4 Hyndburn 002 Hyndburn
5 Ribble Valley 002 Ribble Valley

Forenames

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First names often paired with Hargreaves

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

Modern profile

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Neighbourhood profile for Hargreaves

Modern surname records can be compared with neighbourhood classifications. For Hargreaves, 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 Hargreaves surname is most associated with neighbourhoods classed as Inner Suburbs and Small Town Living, within Suburbanites and Peri-Urbanities. This does not mean every Hargreaves 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

Professional Employment and Family Lifecycles

Group

Inner London Working Professionals

Within London, Hargreaves is most associated with areas classed as Inner London Working Professionals, part of Professional Employment and Family Lifecycles. 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 primarily Inner London neighbourhoods are more densely populated than the Supergroup average. Residents have a younger over-all age profile than the Supergroup as a whole, and are less likely to be owner occupiers. Full time employment is more common than elsewhere in the Supergroup and multiple car ownership is uncommon. Chinese and non-EU-born European migrants are less in evidence than elsewhere in the Supergroup.

Wider London pattern

These neighbourhoods house people of all ages, predominantly of White British or European extraction. Resident turnover is low. Religious affiliation is less common than average and tends to be Christian if expressed. Homeownership, typically of terraced houses, is common but use of the social rented sector is not. Employment is typically in professional, managerial and associate professional or technical occupations. There are few full-time students. Level 4 qualifications are common. More households lack dependent children than have them which, considered alongside low levels of crowding and over-all age structure, indicates that many households may be post child-rearing and in late middle age. Incidence of disability is low, as is residence in communal establishments.

Healthy neighbourhoods

Access to healthy assets and hazards

Hargreaves is most concentrated in decile 9 for access to healthy assets and hazards. This places the surname towards the healthier 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.

9
Lower access Higher access

Neighbourhood deprivation

Index of Multiple Deprivation

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

Meaning and origin of Hargreaves

The surname Hargreaves is of English origin, deriving from the name of a place in Lancashire, England. The name is believed to have evolved from the Old English words "hara" meaning hare and "grava" meaning grove, essentially meaning a grove frequented by hares.

The earliest recorded instance of the surname appears in the 13th century, with a Robert de Hargreve mentioned in the Assize Rolls of Lancashire in 1246. Other early spellings include Hargrave, Hargrev, and Hargrayve, reflecting the varied pronunciation and recording methods of the era.

In the Domesday Book of 1086, the area now known as Hargreaves is referred to as "Hargrave," lending further credence to the theory of the name's origins. The village of Hargreaves itself is located near the town of Burnley in Lancashire, and it is likely that many early bearers of the surname hailed from this region.

One notable individual with the surname was Sir James Hargreaves, born in 1655, who served as a Member of Parliament for Liverpool in the late 17th century. Another was James Hargreaves, a weaver and inventor born in 1720, who is credited with developing the spinning jenny, a key innovation in the early Industrial Revolution.

In the literary realm, the name is associated with Alice Hargreaves, born in 1857, who was the inspiration for the character of Alice in Lewis Carroll's beloved novel "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." Carroll, whose real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, was a close friend of the Hargreaves family.

Other notable individuals with the surname include Sir William Hargreaves, a British chemist and industrialist born in 1870, and Gordon Hargreaves, a British film director and producer born in 1924 who worked on several acclaimed films in the 1960s and 1970s.

Throughout its history, the surname Hargreaves has maintained a strong connection to its Lancashire roots, with many bearers of the name originating from or residing in that region of northern England.

Sourced from namecensus.com.

1881 census detail

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Hargreaves families in the 1881 census

These tables use 1881 census entries for people recorded with the Hargreaves 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. Lancashire leads with 7,874 Hargreaves' recorded in 1881 and an index of 5.45x.

County Total Index
Lancashire 7,874 5.45x
Yorkshire 3,429 2.84x
Staffordshire 330 0.80x
Cheshire 235 0.87x
Derbyshire 87 0.46x
Middlesex 68 0.06x
Surrey 48 0.08x
Warwickshire 37 0.12x
Kent 31 0.07x
Nottinghamshire 25 0.15x
Hertfordshire 22 0.26x
Leicestershire 20 0.15x
Sussex 20 0.10x
Westmorland 20 0.75x
Berkshire 19 0.21x
Durham 19 0.05x
Lanarkshire 19 0.05x
Hampshire 17 0.07x
Lincolnshire 16 0.08x
Somerset 16 0.08x
Cumberland 12 0.11x
Worcestershire 11 0.07x
Flintshire 9 0.27x
Northumberland 9 0.05x
Cornwall 8 0.06x
Essex 8 0.03x
Gloucestershire 7 0.03x
Isle of Man 7 0.31x
Midlothian 7 0.04x
Glamorgan 6 0.03x
Inverness-shire 5 0.14x
Aberdeenshire 4 0.04x
Dorset 4 0.05x
Montgomeryshire 4 0.14x
Oxfordshire 4 0.05x
Monmouthshire 3 0.03x
Northamptonshire 3 0.03x
Royal Navy 3 0.21x
Caernarfonshire 2 0.04x
Cambridgeshire 2 0.03x
Norfolk 2 0.01x
Perthshire 2 0.04x
Shropshire 2 0.02x
Suffolk 2 0.01x
Wiltshire 2 0.02x
Buckinghamshire 1 0.01x
Dumfriesshire 1 0.04x
West Lothian 1 0.05x

Top districts and towns

Districts give a more local view than counties. Total shows raw records, while frequency and index show local concentration. Blackburn in Lancashire leads with 613 Hargreaves' recorded in 1881 and an index of 15.95x.

Place Total Index
Blackburn 613 15.95x
Habergham Eaves 454 34.38x
Accrington 453 34.48x
Newchurch 449 37.98x
Burnley 362 29.75x
Leeds 221 3.24x
Over Darwen 196 16.98x
Haslingden 192 32.09x
Bradford 187 6.40x
Padiham 182 52.14x
Great Little Marsden 176 26.59x
Higher Booths 170 65.26x
Clitheroe 153 35.98x
Little Bolton 148 7.97x
Spotland 146 9.09x
Oswaldtwistle 133 26.05x
Manchester 127 1.95x
Oldham 127 2.72x
Bury 126 7.63x
Hunslet 122 6.48x
Ashton Under Lyne 118 3.74x
Keighley 112 8.71x
Holbeck 110 13.76x
Tottington Lower End 109 15.87x
Colne 103 23.93x
Batley 100 8.72x
Halifax 97 5.48x
Salford 83 1.95x
Bingley 82 10.67x
Great Harwood 81 31.01x
Clayton Le Moors 80 28.53x
Preston 78 2.02x
Church 76 37.25x
Barrowford Booth 75 46.91x
Chorley 75 9.25x
Castleton 74 5.13x
Wortley In Bramley 74 7.74x
Pudsey 72 11.16x
Manningham 70 4.71x
Horton In Bradford 64 3.40x
Lower Booths 64 24.72x
Skipton 64 16.85x
Whalley 60 28.49x
Hulme 59 1.96x
Lancaster 57 6.63x
Calverley Cum Farsley 56 16.34x
Chorlton On Medlock 56 2.44x
Liverpool 56 0.64x
Stanley Cum Wrenthorpe 56 9.99x
Ardwick 55 4.22x
Sutton In Keighley 55 80.50x
Huddersfield 54 3.07x
Dewsbury 53 4.28x
Livesey 51 20.11x
Newton 51 4.58x
North Meols 50 3.54x
Rastrick 50 14.92x
Toxteth Park 50 1.02x
Stoke Upon Trent 44 1.01x
Wolstanton 44 3.52x
Bowling 43 3.60x
Norton In Moors 42 19.30x
Heap 41 5.35x
Stansfield 40 9.01x
Idle 39 6.97x
Everton 38 0.83x
Grindleton 38 146.32x
Newcastle Under Lyme 38 5.22x
Pendleton In Salford 38 2.21x
Adlington 37 27.35x
Burslem 37 3.14x
Butterworth 37 10.51x
Great Bolton 36 1.88x
Higham With West Close 36 115.02x
Rawmarsh 36 8.45x
Cowpe Lench Newhall Hey 35 22.67x
Glossop Dale 34 3.81x
Roughlee Booth 34 252.60x
Shipley 34 5.43x
Shitlington 34 27.23x

Top female names

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

Name Count
Mary 1,012
Elizabeth 544
Sarah 522
Jane 305
Ann 291
Alice 278
Ellen 253
Margaret 225
Hannah 183
Martha 166
Annie 146
Emma 139
Eliza 109
Isabella 72
Clara 69
Nancy 69
Emily 66
Ada 65
Harriet 64
Betty 63
Betsy 56
Maria 56
Susannah 56
Esther 47
Florence 46
Agnes 40
Lucy 38
Edith 36
Fanny 36
Charlotte 35
Elizth. 32
Catherine 31
Frances 30
Grace 30
Louisa 27
Margret 27
Rachel 27
Rebecca 25
Susan 24
Caroline 23
Eleanor 23
Ruth 23
Rose 22
Anne 20
Amelia 18
Sophia 18
Ethel 17
Lydia 17
Bertha 16
Kate 16

Top male names

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

Name Count
John 900
James 630
William 575
Thomas 428
George 274
Joseph 274
Henry 242
Robert 203
Richard 173
Charles 102
Samuel 100
Edward 77
Harry 75
Walter 70
Arthur 69
Albert 66
Alfred 60
Herbert 52
Benjamin 51
Fred 50
Wm. 45
Frederick 42
Ernest 39
Edwin 37
Thos. 36
Frank 33
Christopher 32
Tom 30
Geo. 29
Abraham 28
David 27
Francis 25
Peter 25
Jonathan 21
Joshua 21
Jas. 20
Edmund 19
Robt. 19
Stephen 19
Daniel 17
Isaac 16
Jno. 15
Sam 13
Alexander 12
Elijah 12
Jacob 12
Amos 11
Lawrence 11
Percy 11
Willie 11

Top occupations

Occupational titles are kept as recorded and later transcribed, so related jobs, spelling variants and mistakes stay separate. Scholar was the census term for a child in education. That means the other rows often tell you more about adult work in Hargreaves households.

FAQ

Hargreaves surname: questions and answers

How common was the Hargreaves surname in 1881?

In 1881, 12,498 people were recorded with the Hargreaves surname. That placed it at #337 in the surname rankings for that year.

How common is the Hargreaves surname today?

The latest modern count shown here is 11,953 in 2016. That gives Hargreaves a modern rank of #547.

What does the Hargreaves surname mean?

From the Old English "hār" and "grǣfe," referring to someone who lived near a grey or boundary grove.

What does the Hargreaves map show?

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