Sanctuary Surname

1,765,740th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 108 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
England
Highest density in:
England

Sanctuary Surname Definition:

This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'at the sanctuary,' from residence beside a shrine. 'Several monasteries had an ambit or surrounding space, where criminals might take refuge from immediate or impending danger, as the Sanctuary at Westminster.

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Sanctuary Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England961:580,39635,131
Scotland61:892,30328,047
Canada31:12,281,864364,614
Sweden21:4,923,378241,212
Wales11:3,094,53244,023
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England581:420,26524,785
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States141:3,587,049158,810

Sanctuary (30) may also be a first name.

Sanctuary Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'at the sanctuary,' from residence beside a shrine. 'Several monasteries had an ambit or surrounding space, where criminals might take refuge from immediate or impending danger, as the Sanctuary at Westminster. A person resident in a place so privileged, though no criminal, would readily acquire the name of Thomas or John at the Sanctuary' (Lower's Patronymica Britannica). For a parallel instance, v. Galilee. Although I have no references at hand, there can be no doubt about this derivation.

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

Several monasteries had an ambit or surrounding space, where criminals might take refuge from immediate or impending danger, as the Sanctuary at Westminster. A person resident in a place so privileged, though no criminal, would readily acquire the name of Thomas, or John, at the Sanctuary.

Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower

Sanctuary Last Name Facts

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

Sanctuary occurs in England more than any other country or territory. It may also occur as a variant:. For other potential spellings of Sanctuary click here.

How Common Is The Last Name Sanctuary? popularity and diffusion

This surname is the 1,765,740th most widely held last name in the world, borne by around 1 in 67,477,277 people. Sanctuary is predominantly found in Europe, where 97 percent of Sanctuary reside; 97 percent reside in Northern Europe and 95 percent reside in British Isles. It is also the 1,911,214th most widely held given name throughout the world, borne by 30 people.

The surname Sanctuary is most frequently used in England, where it is carried by 96 people, or 1 in 580,396. In England Sanctuary is mostly concentrated in: Greater London, where 24 percent live, West Sussex, where 21 percent live and Norfolk, where 19 percent live. Barring England it exists in 4 countries. It is also common in Scotland, where 6 percent live and Canada, where 3 percent live.

Sanctuary Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The occurrence of Sanctuary has changed through the years. In England the share of the population with the surname grew 166 percent between 1881 and 2014.

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 Sanctuary
  • 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