NameCensus.

UK surname

Lyon

A surname of French origin referring to a person who lived in or near the city of Lyon.

In the 1881 census there were 6,288 people recorded with the Lyon surname, ranking it #686 among surnames in the records. By 2016, the modern count was 7,696, ranked #866, down from #686 in 1881.

The strongest historical links point to London parishes, Govan Combination and Edinburgh. In the modern distribution records, the strongest local clusters include St. Helens and Greenock West and Central.

Across the surname records, the highest recorded count for Lyon is 7,940 in 2010. Compared with 1881, the name has grown by 22.4%.

1881 census count

6,288

Ranked #686

Modern count

7,696

2016, ranked #866

Peak year

2010

7,940 bearers

Map years

9

1851 to 2016

Key insights

  • Lyon had 6,288 recorded bearers in 1881, making it the #686 surname in that year.
  • The latest modern count shown here is 7,696 in 2016, ranked #866.
  • Within the historical census years, the highest count was 7,612 in 1901.
  • The contemporary neighbourhood profile most associated with the surname is Established but Challenged.

Lyon surname distribution map

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

Distribution map

Lyon surname density by area, 1881 census.

Loading map
Lower densityMedium densityHigh density

Timeline

Back to top

Lyon 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 4,716 #588
1861 historical 4,544 #622
1881 historical 6,288 #686
1891 historical 6,668 #686
1901 historical 7,612 #707
1911 historical 6,092 #846
1997 modern 7,593 #847
1998 modern 7,721 #871
1999 modern 7,824 #866
2000 modern 7,825 #860
2001 modern 7,624 #864
2002 modern 7,746 #868
2003 modern 7,590 #862
2004 modern 7,577 #865
2005 modern 7,493 #867
2006 modern 7,525 #862
2007 modern 7,581 #865
2008 modern 7,623 #863
2009 modern 7,792 #864
2010 modern 7,940 #869
2011 modern 7,695 #886
2012 modern 7,535 #879
2013 modern 7,675 #879
2014 modern 7,754 #878
2015 modern 7,661 #875
2016 modern 7,696 #866

Geography

Back to top

Where Lyons are most common

Historical parish links are strongest around London parishes, Govan Combination, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Liverpool. These are the places where the surname stands out most clearly in the older records.

The modern local-area list points to St. Helens and Greenock West and Central. 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 London parishes London 3
2 Govan Combination Lanark
3 Edinburgh Edinburgh
4 Glasgow Lanark
5 Liverpool Lancashire

Top modern areas

Rank Area District
1 St. Helens 012 St. Helens
2 St. Helens 004 St. Helens
3 St. Helens 019 St. Helens
4 St. Helens 001 St. Helens
5 Greenock West and Central Inverclyde

Forenames

Back to top

First names often paired with Lyon

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

Modern profile

Back to top

Neighbourhood profile for Lyon

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

Semi- and Un-Skilled Workforce

Group

Established but Challenged

Nationally, the Lyon surname is most associated with neighbourhoods classed as Established but Challenged, within Semi- and Un-Skilled Workforce. This does not mean every Lyon household fits that profile, but it gives a useful signal about where the modern surname distribution is strongest.

Read profile summary

Group profile

Many households in these neighbourhoods comprise separated or divorced single parents with dependent children. Residents are typically born in the UK, and these neighbourhoods have relatively few members of ethnic minorities. The prevalence of children, their parents and those at or above normal retirement age, suggests neighbourhood structures may be long-established. Levels of unpaid care are high, and long-term disability is more common than in the Supergroup as a whole. Use of the social rented sector is common, often in terraced houses. Levels of overcrowding are above the Supergroup average. Unemployment is high, while those in work are employed in elementary occupations such as caring, leisure and customer services. Many residents have low level qualifications. Neighbourhood concentrations of this Group are found in the South Wales Valleys, Belfast, Londonderry and the Central Lowlands of Scotland.

Wider pattern

Living in terraced or semi-detached houses, residents of these neighbourhoods typically lack high levels of education and work in elementary or routine service occupations. Unemployment is above average. Residents are predominantly born in the UK, and residents are also predominantly from ethnic minorities. Social (but not private sector) rented sector housing is common. This Supergroup is found throughout the UK’s conurbations and industrial regions but is also an integral part of smaller towns.

London neighbourhood type

London Output Area Classification

Supergroup

The Greater London Mix

Group

Social Rented Sector Professional Support Workers

Within London, Lyon 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

Lyon is most concentrated in decile 6 for access to healthy assets and hazards. This places the surname near the middle of the scale.

Lower deciles point towards weaker access to healthy assets or stronger exposure to local hazards. Higher deciles point towards stronger access and fewer hazards.

6
Lower access Higher access

Neighbourhood deprivation

Index of Multiple Deprivation

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

Meaning and origin of Lyon

The surname LYON is of Anglo-French origin, deriving from the French city of Lyon, located in east-central France. It is believed to have first emerged as a surname in England during the Norman Conquest of 1066, when many French settlers arrived and adopted the name as a way to identify their place of origin.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the LYON surname can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a survey of landholdings commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name appears as "de Lyon," indicating that the bearer was from the city of Lyon.

During the Middle Ages, the LYON surname was particularly prevalent in the counties of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, where some of the earliest recorded bearers settled. One notable example is Sir John de Lyon, who was born in 1249 and served as a member of Parliament for Oxfordshire in 1295.

In the 14th century, the surname appeared in various spellings, including Lyons, Lyoun, and Lyone, reflecting the phonetic variations of the time. One prominent individual from this period was Sir John Lyon, a merchant and philanthropist born in 1512, who founded Harrow School in London.

As the LYON surname spread across Britain and into other parts of the world, it became associated with several notable figures throughout history. One such individual was Mary Lyon, born in 1797, who established Mount Holyoke College, one of the first institutions of higher education for women in the United States.

In the 19th century, the LYON surname gained further prominence with individuals like Nathaniel Lyon, a Union Army general during the American Civil War, born in 1818, and Mary Lyon, a women's rights activist born in 1858.

Other notable bearers of the LYON surname include Claude Lyon, a French chemist born in 1677, who made significant contributions to the understanding of acids and bases, and Phyllis Lyon, an American lesbian rights activist born in 1924, who was one of the founders of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian rights organization in the United States.

Sourced from namecensus.com.

1881 census detail

Back to top

Lyon families in the 1881 census

These tables use 1881 census entries for people recorded with the Lyon 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 1,754 Lyons recorded in 1881 and an index of 2.41x.

County Total Index
Lancashire 1,754 2.41x
Middlesex 489 0.80x
Lanarkshire 436 2.20x
Yorkshire 426 0.70x
Lincolnshire 313 3.20x
Midlothian 294 3.58x
Aberdeenshire 285 5.03x
Surrey 246 0.82x
Angus 138 2.43x
Banffshire 137 10.79x
Cheshire 128 0.95x
Ayrshire 112 2.44x
Renfrewshire 100 2.11x
Kent 95 0.45x
Warwickshire 88 0.57x
Durham 84 0.46x
Cambridgeshire 71 1.83x
Stirlingshire 71 3.14x
Fife 54 1.49x
Northamptonshire 50 0.87x
Suffolk 50 0.67x
Kincardineshire 47 6.30x
Northumberland 41 0.45x
Sussex 40 0.39x
Norfolk 39 0.41x
Hampshire 37 0.29x
Staffordshire 37 0.18x
Morayshire 36 3.78x
Dunbartonshire 34 2.07x
Roxburghshire 34 3.07x
Essex 30 0.25x
Argyllshire 29 1.70x
Buteshire 29 7.82x
Devon 29 0.23x
Berkshire 28 0.61x
Nottinghamshire 28 0.34x
Clackmannanshire 27 5.34x
Orkney 26 3.86x
Perthshire 24 0.87x
Somerset 24 0.24x
Worcestershire 20 0.25x
Derbyshire 18 0.19x
Westmorland 16 1.19x
West Lothian 15 1.63x
Gloucestershire 14 0.12x
Huntingdonshire 13 1.07x
Selkirkshire 12 2.17x
Hertfordshire 11 0.26x
Cumberland 10 0.19x
Inverness-shire 10 0.55x
Caithness 9 1.07x
Carmarthenshire 9 0.35x
Dumfriesshire 9 0.67x
Dorset 7 0.17x
Royal Navy 7 0.96x
East Lothian 6 0.74x
Rutland 6 1.33x
Shropshire 6 0.11x
Bedfordshire 5 0.16x
Pembrokeshire 5 0.26x
Buckinghamshire 3 0.08x
Caernarfonshire 3 0.12x
Channel Islands 3 0.17x
Leicestershire 3 0.04x
Oxfordshire 3 0.08x
Denbighshire 2 0.09x
Flintshire 2 0.12x
Isle of Man 2 0.18x
Wiltshire 2 0.04x
Herefordshire 1 0.04x
Monmouthshire 1 0.02x
Peeblesshire 1 0.35x
Shetland 1 0.16x
Sutherland 1 0.21x

Top districts and towns

Districts give a more local view than counties. Total shows raw records, while frequency and index show local concentration. Barony in Lanarkshire leads with 130 Lyons recorded in 1881 and an index of 2.59x.

Place Total Index
Barony 130 2.59x
Aberdeen Old Machar 105 8.87x
Govan 99 2.02x
Glasgow 95 2.70x
Edinburgh St Cuthberts 92 2.79x
Eccleston In Prescot 90 24.68x
Prescot 86 65.46x
Toxteth Park 86 3.50x
Liverpool 76 1.72x
West Derby 73 3.43x
Lambeth 66 1.24x
Everton 62 2.68x
Holy Trinity 61 4.18x
Whiston 61 107.64x
Dundee 58 2.74x
Falkirk 55 10.41x
Skelmersdale 52 42.95x
Camberwell 50 1.28x
Islington London 50 0.84x
Aberdeen St Nicholas 45 4.24x
Huyton With Roby 45 52.86x
East Greenock 44 9.82x
Wigan 44 4.33x
Birmingham 43 0.84x
Kensington London 43 1.26x
Hackney London 42 1.22x
Windle 42 10.28x
South Leith 40 4.33x
Sutton 40 16.42x
Blantyre 35 16.98x
St Marylebone London 35 1.07x
St Pancras London 34 0.69x
Upholland 34 36.52x
Ormskirk 33 23.74x
Knowsley 32 121.95x
Lathom 31 35.34x
Shoreditch London 31 1.17x
Duddingston 30 18.22x
Fordyce 28 30.64x
Lanark 27 16.95x
Mile End Old Town London 27 2.07x
Preston 27 1.39x
Tyldesley Cum Shakerley 27 12.91x
Manchester 26 0.80x
Wavertree 26 11.18x
Aberdour 25 68.47x
Haydock 24 19.17x
Rainford 24 30.55x
Ashton In Makerfield 23 11.12x
Banff 22 19.95x
Bridlington 22 15.84x
Marnoch 22 32.26x
Sculcoates 22 2.29x
Bredfield 21 232.04x
Bute North 21 83.63x
Edinburgh St Stephens 21 13.01x
Fetteresso 21 17.97x
Walton On Hill 21 5.34x
Battersea 19 0.84x
Kirkdale 19 1.55x
Liff Benvie 19 2.21x
St George Bloomsbury 19 5.41x
Wandsworth 19 3.22x
Fyvie 18 19.46x
Kilmarnock 18 3.30x
Leeds 18 0.53x
Royton 18 8.10x
Salford 18 0.84x
Scarisbrick 18 21.34x
St Andrewthe Less 18 4.06x
St Swithin Lincoln 18 11.70x
Sutton St Mary 18 19.45x
West Ham 18 0.67x
Worsley 18 4.02x
Crowland 17 27.69x
Gorton 17 2.49x
Little Bolton 17 1.82x
Newton 17 61.64x
Paddington London 17 0.76x
Westleigh 17 10.30x

Top female names

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

Name Count
Mary 303
Elizabeth 191
Sarah 139
Ann 110
Ellen 97
Jane 94
Margaret 79
Alice 60
Annie 55
Martha 49
Hannah 43
Emma 42
Eliza 40
Catherine 30
Edith 30
Anne 29
Ada 27
Emily 27
Kate 27
Harriet 25
Esther 23
Fanny 21
Louisa 20
Agnes 18
Maria 18
Florence 17
Charlotte 16
Clara 16
Frances 14
Isabella 14
Lucy 14
Caroline 13
Susan 13
Jessie 10
Rebecca 10
Rose 10
Amelia 9
Betsy 9
Elizth. 9
Margt. 9
Rachel 9
Gertrude 8
Julia 8
Eleanor 7
Janet 7
Laura 7
Lydia 7
Marian 7
Ethel 6
Marion 6

Top male names

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

Name Count
John 277
William 272
James 160
Thomas 149
George 109
Henry 105
Joseph 72
Charles 68
Edward 65
Robert 63
Alfred 40
Samuel 38
Richard 37
Peter 32
Arthur 30
Walter 25
Frederick 23
Albert 22
Wm. 18
Harry 17
David 16
Matthew 15
Herbert 14
Ernest 12
Francis 11
Alexander 10
Daniel 10
Job 9
Andrew 8
Frank 8
Thos. 8
Fred 7
Hugh 7
Isaac 7
Benjamin 6
Geo. 6
Abraham 5
Adam 5
Chas. 5
Edwd. 5
Elias 5
Harold 5
Jno. 5
Jonathan 5
Leonard 5
Louis 5
Michael 5
Ralph 5
Robt. 5
Stephen 5

FAQ

Lyon surname: questions and answers

How common was the Lyon surname in 1881?

In 1881, 6,288 people were recorded with the Lyon surname. That placed it at #686 in the surname rankings for that year.

How common is the Lyon surname today?

The latest modern count shown here is 7,696 in 2016. That gives Lyon a modern rank of #866.

What does the Lyon surname mean?

A surname of French origin referring to a person who lived in or near the city of Lyon.

What does the Lyon map show?

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