Portsmouth Surname

344,897th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 1,062 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
England
Highest density in:
Guyana

Portsmouth Surname Definition:

This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Portsmouth.

Portsmouth Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England7481:74,4898,468
Canada801:460,57039,784
United States781:4,646,909242,363
Australia351:771,30649,759
Wales311:99,8247,946
Guyana281:27,2223,043
New Zealand161:283,02024,643
South Africa131:4,167,516132,322
Scotland101:535,38220,332
France71:9,488,960336,266
Brazil31:71,358,111770,017
Germany21:40,252,730481,636
Turkey11:77,821,422191,047
Sweden11:9,846,757347,448
Malaysia11:29,494,225409,885
Singapore11:5,507,70347,049
Northern Cyprus11:319,01110,202
Ireland11:4,708,93929,543
Jersey11:99,2026,620
Dominica11:75,891912
China11:1,367,321,56651,149
Austria11:8,515,435118,036
Northern Ireland11:1,845,03620,648
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England3661:66,5997,588
Wales11:1,568,41619,290
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States111:4,565,335193,764

Portsmouth (12) may also be a first name.

Portsmouth Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Portsmouth.

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

(English) belonging to Portsmouth, the Anglo-Saxon Portes-múða = Port’s Mouth [Old English múða, mouth of a harbour or river] As Portsmouth Harbour was the Portus Magnus, or Great Port, of the Romans, if the Saxon Port who, according to the Chronicle A.D. 501, landed at Portes-múða, did not eventually elect to be known from the place where he disembarked, the coincidence of nomenclature is peculiar; but as the name Port occurs elsewhere in (certainly later) Anglo-Saxon times it is not altogether unlikely that Port was the invader’s actual name and that he deliberately chose, from sentimental reasons, to land at a haven which was already known as (the) Port, from the Latin Port-us. Nevertheless, the nominal association here, and in the Chronicle a.d. 534 ("hie [Cerdic and Cynric] sealdon heora twǽm nefum Stúfe and Wihtgare eall Wiht-eáland”— i.e., "they gave to their two nephews, Stuf and Wihtgar, the whole of the Isle of Wiht (Wight),” affords much justification for Latham’s remark (‘Eng. Lang.’, ed. 1855, p. 18): “The names of Port and Wihtgar give us the strongest facts in favour of the suggested hypothesis, viz., the ex post facto evolution of personal names out of local ones.”

A mediæval Latinization of ‘Portsmouth’ was Portus Ostium [Latin ostium, entrance, mouth]

Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912) by Henry Harrison

The great town in Hampshire.

Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower

Henry Portsmouth, a Hampshire gentleman, was in 1737 one of the trustees under the Roads Act for the county (W.).

Homes of Family Names in Great Britain (1890) by Henry Brougham Guppy

Portsmouth Last Name Facts

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

The surname Portsmouth is found in England more than any other country/territory. It may also be found in the variant forms:. For other potential spellings of this last name click here.

How Common Is The Last Name Portsmouth? popularity and diffusion

This surname is the 344,897th most frequently held last name at a global level. It is borne by around 1 in 6,862,096 people. Portsmouth is predominantly found in Europe, where 76 percent of Portsmouth are found; 75 percent are found in Northern Europe and 75 percent are found in British Isles. Portsmouth is also the 3,306,491st most widely held forename worldwide. It is borne by 12 people.

The last name is most frequently occurring in England, where it is carried by 748 people, or 1 in 74,489. In England Portsmouth is primarily concentrated in: Hampshire, where 20 percent reside, Greater London, where 11 percent reside and Berkshire, where 11 percent reside. Without taking into account England this last name occurs in 22 countries. It also occurs in Canada, where 8 percent reside and The United States, where 7 percent reside.

Portsmouth Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The prevalency of Portsmouth has changed over time. In England the share of the population with the last name grew 204 percent between 1881 and 2014; in The United States it grew 709 percent between 1880 and 2014 and in Wales it grew 3,100 percent between 1881 and 2014.

Portsmouth Last Name Statistics demography

In The United States those holding the Portsmouth last name are 28.23% more likely to be registered Republicans than The US average, with 75% registered with the party.

The amount Portsmouth earn in different countries varies greatly. In South Africa they earn 54.45% less than the national average, earning R 108,252 per year; in United States they earn 50.13% more than the national average, earning $64,778 USD per year and in Canada they earn 2.5% more than the national average, earning $50,925 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Portsmuth9519/
Porthsmouth951/
Portsmoth950/
Protsmouth901/
Portchmouth8634/
Portsmith8471/
Peart-Smith6720/
Pratt-Smith6715/
Pruittsmith673/
Peart Smith671/

Search for Another Surname

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 Portsmouth
  • 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