NameCensus.

UK surname

Tennant

An occupational surname referring to a tenant farmer or renter of land.

In the 1881 census there were 3,213 people recorded with the Tennant surname, ranking it #1,410 among surnames in the records. By 2016, the modern count was 4,688, ranked #1,451, down from #1,410 in 1881.

The strongest historical links point to London parishes, Govan Combination and Edinburgh. In the modern distribution records, the strongest local clusters include Wakefield, Forth, Braehead and Auchengray and Bathgate East.

Across the surname records, the highest recorded count for Tennant is 4,753 in 1998. Compared with 1881, the name has grown by 45.9%.

1881 census count

3,213

Ranked #1,410

Modern count

4,688

2016, ranked #1,451

Peak year

1998

4,753 bearers

Map years

9

1851 to 2016

Key insights

  • Tennant had 3,213 recorded bearers in 1881, making it the #1,410 surname in that year.
  • The latest modern count shown here is 4,688 in 2016, ranked #1,451.
  • Within the historical census years, the highest count was 4,277 in 1901.
  • The contemporary neighbourhood profile most associated with the surname is Established but Challenged.

Tennant surname distribution map

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

Distribution map

Tennant surname density by area, 1881 census.

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Lower densityMedium densityHigh density

Timeline

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Tennant 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 2,017 #1,438
1861 historical 1,930 #1,509
1881 historical 3,213 #1,410
1891 historical 3,382 #1,409
1901 historical 4,277 #1,320
1911 historical 3,092 #1,688
1997 modern 4,565 #1,434
1998 modern 4,753 #1,431
1999 modern 4,749 #1,446
2000 modern 4,729 #1,439
2001 modern 4,604 #1,447
2002 modern 4,698 #1,451
2003 modern 4,592 #1,450
2004 modern 4,560 #1,459
2005 modern 4,474 #1,465
2006 modern 4,400 #1,491
2007 modern 4,422 #1,494
2008 modern 4,496 #1,480
2009 modern 4,620 #1,476
2010 modern 4,726 #1,478
2011 modern 4,645 #1,482
2012 modern 4,579 #1,476
2013 modern 4,683 #1,464
2014 modern 4,732 #1,459
2015 modern 4,685 #1,459
2016 modern 4,688 #1,451

Geography

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Where Tennants are most common

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

The modern local-area list points to Wakefield, Forth, Braehead and Auchengray, Bathgate East and Lhanbryde, Urquhart, Pitgavney and seaward. 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 1
2 Govan Combination Lanark
3 London parishes London 3
4 Edinburgh Edinburgh
5 Glasgow Lanark

Top modern areas

Rank Area District
1 Wakefield 011 Wakefield
2 Forth, Braehead and Auchengray South Lanarkshire
3 Wakefield 045 Wakefield
4 Bathgate East West Lothian
5 Lhanbryde, Urquhart, Pitgavney and seaward Moray

Forenames

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First names often paired with Tennant

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

Modern profile

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Neighbourhood profile for Tennant

Modern surname records can be compared with neighbourhood classifications. For Tennant, 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 Tennant surname is most associated with neighbourhoods classed as Established but Challenged, within Semi- and Un-Skilled Workforce. This does not mean every Tennant 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, Tennant 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

Tennant is most concentrated in decile 1 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.

1
Lower access Higher access

Neighbourhood deprivation

Index of Multiple Deprivation

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

Meaning and origin of Tennant

The surname Tennant originated in Scotland during the 12th century. It is derived from the Old English word "tenant," which means "one who holds land or property from a superior." The name likely emerged as an occupational term for a tenant farmer or a person who rented land from a landlord.

The earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in medieval Scottish records and charters from the 12th and 13th centuries. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Walter le Tenant, who was mentioned in the Ragman Rolls of 1296, a record of Scottish landowners who swore fealty to King Edward I of England.

In the 14th century, the name appeared in various spellings, such as Tennand, Tennent, and Tenand, reflecting the phonetic variations common in medieval times. The surname was particularly prevalent in the Scottish Lowlands, particularly in the counties of Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, and Renfrewshire.

Notable historical figures with the surname Tennant include Sir John Tennant (1758-1840), a Scottish industrialist and founder of the Tennant chemical company in Glasgow. Another prominent bearer was Sir Charles Tennant (1768-1838), a Scottish businessman and Member of Parliament for Peebles.

In the literary world, William Tennant (1784-1848) was a Scottish poet and philologist known for his poem "Anster Fair." John Tennant (1834-1913) was a Scottish explorer and naturalist who traveled extensively in Australia and published works on the flora and fauna of the region.

The surname Tennant also has connections to place names. The village of Tennant in Perthshire, Scotland, likely derived its name from the surname. Similarly, the town of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory of Australia was named after an explorer named John Tennant McDougall, who explored the region in the 1870s.

Throughout history, the Tennant surname has been borne by individuals from various walks of life, including landowners, industrialists, poets, explorers, and naturalists. Its origins as an occupational name reflect the agricultural and landowning traditions of medieval Scotland, and its presence across different regions and time periods showcases the widespread dispersal of those bearing this surname.

Sourced from namecensus.com.

1881 census detail

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Tennant families in the 1881 census

These tables use 1881 census entries for people recorded with the Tennant 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. Lanarkshire leads with 644 Tennants recorded in 1881 and an index of 6.39x.

County Total Index
Lanarkshire 644 6.39x
Yorkshire 510 1.65x
Lancashire 250 0.68x
Middlesex 198 0.63x
Staffordshire 170 1.61x
Warwickshire 151 1.92x
Norfolk 136 2.84x
Midlothian 123 2.94x
Durham 114 1.23x
Ayrshire 91 3.90x
Surrey 78 0.51x
Aberdeenshire 70 2.42x
Northumberland 60 1.29x
Renfrewshire 44 1.82x
West Lothian 42 8.94x
Lincolnshire 38 0.76x
Stirlingshire 37 3.22x
Shropshire 35 1.30x
Worcestershire 35 0.86x
Cheshire 34 0.49x
Kent 34 0.32x
Fife 30 1.63x
Dunbartonshire 27 3.22x
Hertfordshire 18 0.84x
Bedfordshire 15 0.93x
Gloucestershire 14 0.23x
Hampshire 13 0.20x
Berkshire 12 0.51x
Oxfordshire 12 0.62x
Cambridgeshire 11 0.56x
Glamorgan 11 0.20x
Nottinghamshire 10 0.24x
Roxburghshire 10 1.77x
Angus 9 0.31x
Peeblesshire 9 6.14x
Suffolk 9 0.24x
Banffshire 8 1.24x
Buckinghamshire 8 0.42x
Northamptonshire 8 0.27x
Cornwall 7 0.20x
Dumfriesshire 7 1.02x
Cumberland 6 0.22x
Derbyshire 6 0.12x
East Lothian 5 1.21x
Perthshire 5 0.36x
Sussex 5 0.10x
Dorset 4 0.20x
Ross-shire 4 0.47x
Westmorland 4 0.58x
Berwickshire 3 0.79x
Essex 2 0.03x
Leicestershire 2 0.06x
Wiltshire 2 0.07x
Argyllshire 1 0.12x
Denbighshire 1 0.08x
Devon 1 0.02x
Morayshire 1 0.21x
Pembrokeshire 1 0.10x
Selkirkshire 1 0.35x
Somerset 1 0.02x

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 174 Tennants recorded in 1881 and an index of 6.82x.

Place Total Index
Barony 174 6.82x
Govan 80 3.21x
Glasgow 73 4.08x
Birmingham 72 2.75x
Edinburgh St Cuthberts 41 2.44x
New Monkland 40 13.42x
Leeds 37 2.12x
Old Monkland 35 8.74x
Aston 33 1.52x
Long Compton 31 414.99x
Peterhead 31 20.30x
Rutherglen 30 20.27x
Lanark 28 34.50x
Whitburn 27 39.79x
Carluke 24 26.21x
Blackburn 23 2.34x
Knaresborough 23 47.38x
Stoke Upon Trent 23 2.06x
Dawley 22 22.44x
Manchester 22 1.32x
Salford 22 2.02x
Shipdham 22 135.14x
Kensington London 21 1.21x
South Leith 21 4.47x
Buckden 20 630.91x
Kingswinford 20 5.23x
Wolverhampton 20 2.47x
Darlington 19 5.30x
St Pancras London 19 0.76x
Willesden 19 6.46x
Chelsea London 18 1.92x
Shoreditch London 18 1.33x
Bradford 17 2.27x
Cambuslang 17 16.72x
Carnwath 17 27.26x
Ecclesall Bierlow 17 2.70x
Great Yarmouth 17 4.28x
Keighley 16 4.86x
Lambeth 16 0.59x
Pemberton 16 10.84x
Shotts 16 13.26x
Walsall Foreign 16 2.94x
Clapham Cum Newby 15 207.76x
Islington London 15 0.50x
Newcastle On Tyne All Sts 15 5.41x
Elswick 14 3.78x
Lancaster 14 6.36x
Aberdeen Old Machar 13 2.16x
Alnwick 13 16.29x
Bathgate 13 12.75x
Cambusnethan 13 5.80x
Everton 13 1.10x
Ormesby St Margaret W 13 108.15x
Toxteth Park 13 1.04x
Avondale 12 20.35x
Camberwell 12 0.60x
Chorlton On Medlock 12 2.04x
Dalmellington 12 17.49x
Horton In Bradford 12 2.49x
Luton 12 4.29x
Morton In Keighley 12 49.42x
Sedgley 12 3.07x
Stone 12 8.91x
Wolstanton 12 3.75x
Aberavon 11 22.01x
Aberdeen St Nicholas 11 2.04x
Baildon 11 18.90x
Falkirk 11 4.09x
Holbeach 11 19.81x
Kilwinning 11 14.59x
Middleham 11 125.86x
Monquhitter 11 36.79x
New Cumnock 11 27.18x
Old Kilpatrick 11 11.11x
Ripon 11 15.34x
Brancaster 10 121.65x
Cathcart 10 7.65x
Dewsbury 10 3.16x
Haswell 10 15.04x
Preston 10 1.01x

Top female names

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

Top male names

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

Name Count
John 144
William 127
James 84
George 80
Thomas 53
Joseph 39
Robert 37
Charles 35
Henry 28
Edward 25
Albert 23
Arthur 22
Richard 21
Alfred 19
Samuel 16
Christopher 14
Frederick 12
Walter 12
Herbert 10
David 8
Harry 8
Ernest 6
Francis 5
Stephen 5
Frank 4
Fred 4
Fredk. 4
Joshua 4
Percy 4
Alexander 3
Bernard 3
Hugh 3
Jno. 3
Jonathan 3
Leonard 3
Matthew 3
Paul 3
Thos. 3
W. 3
Adam 2
Ambrose 2
Benjamin 2
Edmund 2
Edwin 2
Levi 2
Ralph 2
Richd. 2
Robinson 2
Robt. 2
Saml. 2

FAQ

Tennant surname: questions and answers

How common was the Tennant surname in 1881?

In 1881, 3,213 people were recorded with the Tennant surname. That placed it at #1,410 in the surname rankings for that year.

How common is the Tennant surname today?

The latest modern count shown here is 4,688 in 2016. That gives Tennant a modern rank of #1,451.

What does the Tennant surname mean?

An occupational surname referring to a tenant farmer or renter of land.

What does the Tennant map show?

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