Precious Surname

82,447th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 5,878 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
Nigeria
Highest density in:
Botswana

Precious Surname Definition:

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Precious' (i.e. dear). Mr. Lower writes of this Yorkshire surname,' A correspondent sends me the following anecdote: "Walking through a town with a friend, I noticed the name of Precious.

Read More About This Surname

Precious Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Nigeria3,4411:51,4803,950
England8901:62,6057,365
Kenya4931:93,6718,364
Malawi4711:36,3465,352
Botswana4081:5,360835
Canada641:575,71247,839
South Africa271:2,006,58290,678
Uganda261:1,501,51154,973
Wales161:193,40812,484
Liberia101:440,85421,753
Isle of Man71:12,2602,387
Scotland61:892,30328,047
Zimbabwe21:7,719,120118,432
Philippines21:50,619,112341,003
Malaysia11:29,494,225409,885
Belgium11:11,496,644167,539
Switzerland11:8,212,915156,297
Sweden11:9,846,757347,448
Saint Lucia11:178,7813,800
Cameroon11:20,769,068227,406
Egypt11:91,935,754132,737
Ecuador11:15,905,84650,210
Italy11:61,156,688199,583
Iran11:76,782,524277,718
India11:767,065,3821,851,717
Ghana11:27,020,69223,742
France11:66,422,722504,397
Ethiopia11:97,546,26229,669
Estonia11:1,321,80440,178
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England6131:39,7645,049
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States31:16,739,561595,711

Precious (413,857) may also be a first name.

Precious Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Precious' (i.e. dear). Mr. Lower writes of this Yorkshire surname,' A correspondent sends me the following anecdote: "Walking through a town with a friend, I noticed the name of Precious. My friend said to me, 'You knew John Priesthouse; he was the father of this Precious.' Here the vulgar had corrupted the name, probably in ridicule of Priesthouse.' Whatever truth may attach to this story communicated to Mr. Lower, it does not alter the fact that the surname Pretious or Precious is descended of a personal name Precious or Preciosa, as it was sometimes found in formal documents.

Presiosa Potewyne, Cambridgeshire 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Preciosa de Kirkeby: Pat. Roll, 13 Edward.

Preciosa Scherwynd, webester, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Johannes Precyus, 1379: ibid.

Richard Pretiouse, Yorkshire, 1471:: Corpus Christi Guild (Surtees Society).

1736. Married — James Bickett and Mary Precious: St. George, Hanover Square.

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

(Anglo-French-Latin) Precious; Affected [Old French precieus (mod. précieux); Latin pretios-us, valuable] There is an apparently well-authenticated instance of this name being used for an earlier ‘Priesthouse.’

Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912) by Henry Harrison

A correspondent sends me the following anecdote.-"Walking through a town with a friend, I noticed the name of Precious. My friend said to me: 'You knew John Priesthouse-he was the father of this Precious': here the vulgar had corrupted the name, probably in ridicule of Priesthouse." It is remarkable how easily people in a humble condition of life will accept an alias, or adopt the corrupt pronunciation of their names by their illiterate neighbours; and if these things occur in the nineteenth century, it is no wonder that we have, among the multitude of surnames handed down to us from the thirteenth and fourteenth, many that baffle even etymological guess-work, and render a rationale impossible.

Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower

A corruption of the surname Priesthouse. There is, says Lower, a dwelling called Priesthawes, originally Priesthouse, near Pevensey, co. Sussex.

Ludus Patronymicus (1868) by Richard Stephen Charnock

From the Dutch, Preussiche; a personal name (?).

British Family Names: Their Origin and Meaning (1903) by Henry Barber

Precious Last Name Facts

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

The surname Precious occurs most in Nigeria. It may occur as a variant:. Click here to see other potential spellings of this name.

How Common Is The Last Name Precious? popularity and diffusion

Precious is the 82,447th most frequently occurring family name at a global level. It is borne by approximately 1 in 1,239,800 people. The last name is predominantly found in Africa, where 83 percent of Precious live; 59 percent live in West Africa and 59 percent live in Atlantic-Niger Africa. It is also the 2,488th most frequently held first name worldwide. It is borne by 413,857 people.

The last name is most frequently occurring in Nigeria, where it is held by 3,441 people, or 1 in 51,480. In Nigeria Precious is primarily concentrated in: Rivers, where 27 percent reside, Imo, where 18 percent reside and Delta, where 11 percent reside. Beside Nigeria it occurs in 28 countries. It also occurs in England, where 15 percent reside and Kenya, where 8 percent reside.

Precious Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The incidence of Precious has changed over time. In England the share of the population with the last name rose 145 percent between 1881 and 2014.

Precious Last Name Statistics demography

The religious devotion of those carrying the Precious last name is chiefly Christian (100%) in Kenya and Christian (97%) in Nigeria.

The amount Precious earn in different countries varies greatly. In South Africa they earn 38.69% less than the national average, earning R 145,692 per year and in Canada they earn 39.33% more than the national average, earning $69,222 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

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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 Precious
  • 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