NameCensus.

UK surname

Thornburn

In the 1881 census there were 145 people recorded with the Thornburn surname, ranking it #15,838 among surnames in the records. By 2016, the modern count was 159, ranked #22,798, down from #15,838 in 1881.

The strongest historical links point to Warden, Black Carts and Ryehill, Edinburgh and Manchester. In the modern distribution records, the strongest local clusters include Middlesbrough, Leeds and East Riding of Yorkshire.

Across the surname records, the highest recorded count for Thornburn is 324 in 1997. Compared with 1881, the name has grown by 9.7%.

1881 census count

145

Ranked #15,838

Modern count

159

2016, ranked #22,798

Peak year

1997

324 bearers

Map years

9

1851 to 2016

Key insights

  • Thornburn had 145 recorded bearers in 1881, making it the #15,838 surname in that year.
  • The latest modern count shown here is 159 in 2016, ranked #22,798.
  • Within the historical census years, the highest count was 200 in 1901.
  • The contemporary neighbourhood profile most associated with the surname is Spacious Rural Living.

Thornburn surname distribution map

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

Distribution map

Thornburn surname density by area, 1881 census.

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Lower densityMedium densityHigh density

Timeline

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Thornburn 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 154 #12,668
1861 historical 167 #13,956
1881 historical 145 #15,838
1891 historical 172 #16,663
1901 historical 200 #15,120
1911 historical 163 #16,939
1997 modern 324 #12,859
1998 modern 287 #14,289
1999 modern 277 #14,737
2000 modern 240 #16,186
2001 modern 163 #20,372
2002 modern 175 #19,902
2003 modern 162 #20,624
2004 modern 159 #21,007
2005 modern 158 #21,052
2006 modern 166 #20,534
2007 modern 174 #20,166
2008 modern 173 #20,465
2009 modern 176 #20,632
2010 modern 173 #21,327
2011 modern 171 #21,337
2012 modern 158 #22,460
2013 modern 160 #22,621
2014 modern 165 #22,356
2015 modern 160 #22,701
2016 modern 159 #22,798

Geography

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Where Thornburns are most common

Historical parish links are strongest around Warden, Black Carts and Ryehill, Edinburgh, Manchester, Sledmere with Croom Hamlet and Askham Bryan. These are the places where the surname stands out most clearly in the older records.

The modern local-area list points to Middlesbrough, Leeds, East Riding of Yorkshire and South Kesteven. 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 Warden, Black Carts and Ryehill Northumberland
2 Edinburgh Edinburgh
3 Manchester Lancashire
4 Sledmere with Croom Hamlet Yorkshire, East Riding
5 Askham Bryan Yorkshire, East Riding

Top modern areas

Rank Area District
1 Middlesbrough 019 Middlesbrough
2 Leeds 080 Leeds
3 East Riding of Yorkshire 010 East Riding of Yorkshire
4 East Riding of Yorkshire 021 East Riding of Yorkshire
5 South Kesteven 010 South Kesteven

Forenames

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First names often paired with Thornburn

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

Modern profile

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Neighbourhood profile for Thornburn

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

Retired Professionals

Group

Spacious Rural Living

Nationally, the Thornburn surname is most associated with neighbourhoods classed as Spacious Rural Living, within Retired Professionals. This does not mean every Thornburn household fits that profile, but it gives a useful signal about where the modern surname distribution is strongest.

Read profile summary

Group profile

These predominantly ageing households typically have no resident dependent children. Most are owner-occupiers and live in detached houses in low density residential developments (although renting is more common than in the rest of the Supergroup). White ethnicity predominates. Residents are typically beyond retirement age but those still in work have managerial, professional or skilled trade occupations. White ethnicity and Christian religious affiliation predominate. Neighbourhoods are located throughout rural UK.

Wider pattern

Typically married but no longer with resident dependent children, these well-educated households either remain working in their managerial, professional, administrative or other skilled occupations, or are retired from them – the modal individual age is beyond normal retirement age. Underoccupied detached and semi-detached properties predominate, and unpaid care is more prevalent than reported disability. The prevalence of this Supergroup outside most urban conurbations indicates that rural lifestyles prevail, typically sustained by using two or more cars per household.

London neighbourhood type

London Output Area Classification

Supergroup

Professional Employment and Family Lifecycles

Group

Inner London Working Professionals

Within London, Thornburn 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

Thornburn 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

Thornburn falls in decile 8 for neighbourhood deprivation. This puts the surname towards the less deprived end of the index.

Decile 1 represents the more deprived end of the scale. Decile 10 represents the less deprived end.

8
More deprived Less deprived

Broadband speed

Fixed broadband download speed

The modern neighbourhood pattern for Thornburn 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 Thornburn, not the ethnicity of every person with the surname.

1881 census detail

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Thornburn families in the 1881 census

These tables use 1881 census entries for people recorded with the Thornburn 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 53 Thornburns recorded in 1881 and an index of 3.76x.

County Total Index
Yorkshire 53 3.76x
Cumberland 40 32.62x
Lancashire 17 1.01x
Northumberland 7 3.30x
Lanarkshire 4 0.87x
Middlesex 4 0.28x
Dumfriesshire 3 9.54x
Midlothian 3 1.57x
Roxburghshire 3 11.63x
Ayrshire 2 1.88x
Durham 2 0.47x
Lincolnshire 2 0.88x
Argyllshire 1 2.52x
Channel Islands 1 2.37x
Dunbartonshire 1 2.61x
East Lothian 1 5.30x
Stirlingshire 1 1.90x
Westmorland 1 3.19x

Top districts and towns

Districts give a more local view than counties. Total shows raw records, while frequency and index show local concentration. Crosscanonby in Cumberland leads with 12 Thornburns recorded in 1881 and an index of 295.57x.

Place Total Index
Crosscanonby 12 295.57x
Chorlton On Medlock 9 33.52x
Askham Bryan 7 4666.67x
Morley 6 81.74x
Headingley Cum Burley 5 55.07x
Hulme 5 14.17x
Warden 5 1162.79x
Yedingham 5 7142.86x
Armley 4 64.31x
Cummersdale 4 952.38x
Papcastle 4 1176.47x
Scriven Cum Tentergate 4 769.23x
Sledmere Cum Croom 4 1600.00x
St Cuthbert Within 4 281.69x
Stainton 4 975.61x
Weaverthorpe 4 1290.32x
Boroughbridge 3 638.30x
Edinburgh St Cuthberts 3 3.91x
Egremont 3 102.74x
Govan 3 2.63x
Hobkirk 3 909.09x
Marske In Guisbrough 3 119.52x
St Cuthbert W O 3 50.17x
Bingley 2 22.25x
Colsterworth 2 416.67x
Darlington 2 12.22x
Kensington London 2 2.53x
Kilmarnock 2 15.76x
Langholm 2 88.50x
St Andrew Holborn 2 41.41x
Stanwix 2 202.02x
Arthuret 1 78.13x
Bainton 1 500.00x
Brough 1 322.58x
Cambusnethan 1 9.78x
Coll 1 312.50x
Cottam 1 1666.67x
Crosby On Eden 1 526.32x
Drymen 1 142.86x
Elswick 1 5.91x
Gorton 1 6.29x
Huddersfield 1 4.86x
Hutton Cranswick 1 169.49x
Liverpool 1 0.97x
Lochmaben 1 72.46x
Manchester 1 1.32x
Row 1 20.20x
St Peter Port 1 12.80x
Staffield 1 833.33x
Stockton On Forest 1 454.55x
Tranent 1 39.22x
Warenford 1 10000.00x
Wetheral 1 61.73x
Wheldrake 1 344.83x

Top female names

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

Name Count
Mary 10
Jane 6
Ann 5
Elizabeth 5
Annie 4
Eliza 3
Ellen 3
Hannah 3
Margaret 3
Anne 2
Sarah 2
Alice 1
Amy 1
Betsy 1
Bridget 1
Caroline 1
Edith 1
Elizabest 1
Elizh. 1
Elizth. 1
Emma 1
Euphemia 1
Fanny 1
Harriet 1
Kate 1
Louisa 1
Margt. 1
Rachel 1
Selina 1

Top male names

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

Name Count
William 16
John 11
James 5
George 4
Henry 3
Robert 3
Thomas 3
Fred 2
Joseph 2
Richard 2
Adam 1
Albert 1
Alexander 1
Alfred 1
Ch. 1
Christopher 1
Frank 1
Jacob 1
Peter 1
Samuel 1
Tom 1
Wm. 1

FAQ

Thornburn surname: questions and answers

How common was the Thornburn surname in 1881?

In 1881, 145 people were recorded with the Thornburn surname. That placed it at #15,838 in the surname rankings for that year.

How common is the Thornburn surname today?

The latest modern count shown here is 159 in 2016. That gives Thornburn a modern rank of #22,798.

What does the Thornburn map show?

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