Arkwright Surname

250,267th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 1,585 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
England
Highest density in:
Guernsey

Arkwright Surname Definition:

This surname is derived from an occupation. 'the arkwright,' a maker of arks. This article of furniture was a north English manufacture, and the surname originated there. The ark was the old-fashioned meal-chest 'When this com to the kniht was sold, He did it in an arc to hold.

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Arkwright Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England8341:66,8087,745
United States4881:742,74458,145
Canada701:526,36644,416
Australia511:529,32739,816
New Zealand351:129,38115,740
Argentina231:1,858,40995,340
France221:3,019,215204,848
Wales181:171,91811,581
Scotland131:411,83217,291
Switzerland71:1,173,27469,697
South Africa71:7,739,672177,858
Ireland21:2,354,47019,715
Germany21:40,252,730481,636
Solomon Islands11:580,02922,243
Portugal11:10,418,24125,048
Nigeria11:177,142,758748,972
Thailand11:70,638,3451,175,915
Uganda11:39,039,279258,887
United Arab Emirates11:9,162,273135,437
China11:1,367,321,56651,149
Kenya11:46,179,900103,372
Zimbabwe11:15,438,240133,260
Cambodia11:15,487,14614,824
Isle of Man11:85,8224,091
Hong Kong11:7,335,48316,643
Guernsey11:64,4392,137
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Ireland41:1,107,46726,093
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England6971:34,9724,578
Wales101:156,8426,008
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States621:809,97950,387

Arkwright (30) may also be a first name.

Arkwright Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

This surname is derived from an occupation. 'the arkwright,' a maker of arks. This article of furniture was a north English manufacture, and the surname originated there. The ark was the old-fashioned meal-chest 'When this com to the kniht was sold, He did it in an arc to hold. And opened this arc the third day.'

Tale of a Usurer. In an inventory of household goods, dated 1559, are mentioned 'one trussin bed, with a teaster of yealow and chamlet, one old arke, old hanggers, of wull grene and red,' &c.: Richmondshire Wills. Twenty years earlier I find the contents of a 'mylke howse' including 'an arke, a tub, a stande, a chyme': ibid. In the same book a sheep is bequeathed to one Henry Arkwright.

William Arkwright, tayler, 1563: Preston Guild Rolls.

John Arkwright, of Broughton (Furness), 1683: Lancashire Wills at Richmond.

Laurence Arkewrighte, temp. Elizabeth: Calendar of Pleadings, temp. Elizabeth I.

A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (1896) by Charles Wareing Endell Bardsley

(English) Chest-Maker. [Middle English arkewright(e; Old English arc (Latin arca), a chest + wyrhta] In the North of England meat or flour bins are still sometimes called arks.

Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912) by Henry Harrison

An "ark," in the north, signifies a meal or flour-chest, which is usually made of oak, and sometimes elaborately carved. Halliw. The maker of such chests was an Arkwright. The strong boxes in which the Jews kept their valuables, were anciently called their arks (arclias). Hunter's Hallamshire Glossary. Area is used in this latter sense by the classical writers:

Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower

(English), Meal-chest maker.

Surnames (1857) by Bernard Homer Dixon

Arkwright: the chest-maker, maker of those coffers that were intended to preserve linen and tapestries, curtains, etc. Such as were made of cypress wood were called spruce-chests.

Family Names And Their Story (1913) by Sabine Baring-Gould

Arkwright Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name Arkwright Come From? nationality or country of origin

The last name Arkwright is found most frequently in England. It may occur as:. For other possible spellings of Arkwright click here.

How Common Is The Last Name Arkwright? popularity and diffusion

Arkwright is the 250,267th most frequently occurring last name world-wide. It is borne by approximately 1 in 4,597,821 people. It is mostly found in Europe, where 57 percent of Arkwright live; 55 percent live in Northern Europe and 55 percent live in British Isles. Arkwright is also the 1,911,214th most frequently used first name on earth, held by 30 people.

Arkwright is most prevalent in England, where it is carried by 834 people, or 1 in 66,808. In England it is mostly concentrated in: Greater Manchester, where 26 percent live, Lancashire, where 22 percent live and Greater London, where 7 percent live. Outside of England Arkwright occurs in 25 countries. It is also found in The United States, where 31 percent live and Canada, where 4 percent live.

Arkwright Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The prevalency of Arkwright has changed over time. In England the number of people carrying the Arkwright last name grew 120 percent between 1881 and 2014; in The United States it grew 787 percent between 1880 and 2014; in Wales it grew 180 percent between 1881 and 2014 and in Ireland it fell 50 percent between 1901 and 2014.

Arkwright Last Name Statistics demography

The religious adherence of those carrying the last name is primarily Catholic (50%) in Ireland.

In The United States those holding the Arkwright last name are 14.15% more likely to be registered with the Republican Party than The US average, with 60.92% registered to vote for the political party.

The amount Arkwright earn in different countries varies somewhat. In United States they earn 7.34% less than the national average, earning $39,983 USD per year and in Canada they earn 7.26% more than the national average, earning $53,290 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Harkwright959/
Arkwrieght951/
Aarkwright951/
Arkright942/
Arkuright8924/
Earkright892/
Arkeright890/
Yorkwright841/
Argbright784/
Arquright780/
Aeurkrit711/
Arkrot6720/
Arkert6710/
Arkart677/
Arkrat671/
Arrigarte671/
Aryokorit671/
Arkariate671/

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Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Arkwright
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis