Bickerstaff Surname

106,915th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 4,369 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
United States
Highest density in:
Gibraltar

Bickerstaff Surname Definition:

This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Bickerstaffe,' a village near Ormskirk, Lancashire; in early records spelt Bikerstat and Bykyrstath. Bickersteth is found later.

Ralph Hey, of Bickersteth, husbandman, 1660: Wills at Chester.

Read More About This Surname

Bickerstaff Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States2,7211:133,20814,009
England7001:79,5978,889
Northern Ireland3061:6,0301,097
Australia2921:92,45110,569
Canada1111:331,94230,257
New Zealand821:55,2238,747
South Africa641:846,52756,162
Scotland491:109,2627,254
Wales291:106,7088,358
Gibraltar61:5,659991
Taiwan11:23,444,74693,622
Ireland11:4,708,93929,543
American Samoa11:55,7583,072
Thailand11:70,638,3451,175,915
Spain11:46,752,036156,870
Philippines11:101,238,223404,861
Hong Kong11:7,335,48316,643
Brazil11:214,074,3321,693,628
Colombia11:47,774,07244,230
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Ireland1091:40,6413,695
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England5261:46,3415,744
Scotland841:44,5623,225
Wales121:130,7015,289
Isle of Man61:9,045877
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States3591:139,88513,187

Bickerstaff Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Bickerstaffe,' a village near Ormskirk, Lancashire; in early records spelt Bikerstat and Bykyrstath. Bickersteth is found later.

Ralph Hey, of Bickersteth, husbandman, 1660: Wills at Chester.

Adam de Bykerstaff, Lancashire, 1289: Baines' Lancashire. l.

Gilliert de Bykerstaff. Placitorum in domo capitulari Westmonasteriensi.

Robert Bickersteth, of Bickersteth, 1580: Wills at Chester.

Hugh Bickerstaff, of Bickerstaff, 1600: ibid.

1752. Married — John Richards and Susanna Bickerstaff: St. George's Chapel, Mayfair.

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

In Ireland this name may have either of two origins: it can be Lowland Scottish, derived from the place-name Biggar in Lanarkshire; or it can be a curious synonym of MacGivern, a Co. Down family, which for some reason I have not learnt, in some cases in the Newry area changed their name to Biggar and Bickerstaff and in others around Downpatrick became Montgomery. The MacGiverns, of course, are an indigenous Gaelic Irish sept, originally of Co. Tyrone, but before the end of the sixteenth century they were established in Co. Down. The Biggars are in the will indices of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in several Ulster counties; they have a long association with Co. Armagh for one of them, Alexander Biger, appears among the Co. Armagh householders in 1664 while a Biggar and a Bigger are among the large landowners in that county in 1878. Both Francis Joseph Biggar (1863-1927), the historian and antiquarian, and Joseph Bigger M.P. (1828-1890), the originator of parliamentary obstruction, were born in Belfast.

Supplement to Irish Families (1964) by Edward MacLysaght

(Scandinavian) belonging to Bickerstaffe (Lancs), anciently Bicker- stath or Bickeisteth: v. Bickersteth.

Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912) by Henry Harrison

The Old English bicker means to skirmish or contend, and a bicker-staff, therefore, probably signifies a weapon analogous to a quarter-staff, or single stick. The name belongs to the same class as Longsword, Broadspear, &c.

Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower

User-submitted Reference

Bickerstaff means the 'bee keeper's place'.

- abickerstaff

Bickerstaff Last Name Facts

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

The surname Bickerstaff is found most frequently in The United States. It can be found in the variant forms:. For other potential spellings of Bickerstaff click here.

How Common Is The Last Name Bickerstaff? popularity and diffusion

The last name is the 106,915th most commonly occurring last name world-wide, held by around 1 in 1,668,012 people. It is primarily found in The Americas, where 64 percent of Bickerstaff reside; 64 percent reside in North America and 64 percent reside in Anglo-North America.

The last name is most commonly occurring in The United States, where it is carried by 2,721 people, or 1 in 133,208. In The United States Bickerstaff is primarily concentrated in: Texas, where 14 percent reside, Georgia, where 9 percent reside and Alabama, where 8 percent reside. Not including The United States this surname exists in 18 countries. It also occurs in England, where 16 percent reside and Northern Ireland, where 7 percent reside.

Bickerstaff Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The prevalency of Bickerstaff has changed over time. In The United States the number of people carrying the Bickerstaff last name rose 758 percent between 1880 and 2014; in England it rose 133 percent between 1881 and 2014; in Scotland it declined 42 percent between 1881 and 2014; in Wales it rose 242 percent between 1881 and 2014 and in Ireland it declined 99 percent between 1901 and 2014.

Bickerstaff Last Name Statistics demography

The religious devotion of those holding the Bickerstaff last name is chiefly Presbyterian (42%) in Ireland.

In The United States those bearing the Bickerstaff surname are 18.82% more likely to be registered with the Republican Party than the national average, with 65.59% being registered with the party.

The amount Bickerstaff earn in different countries varies greatly. In South Africa they earn 57.04% less than the national average, earning R 102,096 per year; in United States they earn 8.79% less than the national average, earning $39,356 USD per year and in Canada they earn 0.13% less than the national average, earning $49,619 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

Search for Another Surname

Bickerstaff Reference & Research

Bickerstaff FamilyTree DNA Project - A description of a group researching the paternal lines of men who bear the surname with the help of DNA analysis.

The name statistics are still in development, sign up for information on more maps and data

By signing up to the mailing list you will only receive emails specifically about name reference on Forebears and your information will not be distributed to 3rd parties.

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 Bickerstaff
  • 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