Scrimshaw Surname

207,403rd
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 1,996 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
England
Highest density in:
New Zealand

Scrimshaw Surname Definition:

This surname is derived from an official title. 'the skirmisher,' a fencer. Old French eskirmir, to fence. Old French escarmouche, a skirmish, hence English scrimmage, and the form scrimgeour, i.e. scrimmager, one who mingled in a scrimmage.

Read More About This Surname

Scrimshaw Surname Distribution Map

By incidenceBy frequencyBy rank
Incidence (high to low)Incidence (low to high)Alphabetic A-ZAlphabetic Z-ARank (high to low)Rank (low to high)
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England1,0871:51,2596,328
United States2411:1,503,979102,346
Australia2251:119,98113,219
Canada2171:169,79517,065
New Zealand1101:41,1676,893
Thailand501:1,412,767195,138
Wales251:123,7819,267
Scotland221:243,35512,191
Netherlands61:2,814,529101,176
Israel31:2,852,545113,505
South Africa21:27,088,852277,613
Oman11:3,687,97114,390
Spain11:46,752,036156,870
Iceland11:380,09011,096
Greece11:11,079,790145,225
Germany11:80,505,459560,955
Zimbabwe11:15,438,240133,260
France11:66,422,722504,397
Brazil11:214,074,3321,693,628
Show All Nations
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England5331:45,7325,690
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States121:4,184,890180,076

Scrimshaw Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

This surname is derived from an official title. 'the skirmisher,' a fencer. Old French eskirmir, to fence. Old French escarmouche, a skirmish, hence English scrimmage, and the form scrimgeour, i.e. scrimmager, one who mingled in a scrimmage.

'Qe nul teigne Escole de Eskermerye, ne de Bokeler deins la citee.': Liber Albus.

Scrimmage was in early use, and is not in any true sense provincial. Lower quotes Crawford's Scottish Peerage as follows; 'Alexander I, by special grant, appointed a member of the Carron family, to whom he gave the name of Scrimgeour, for his valour in a sharp fight, to the office of hereditary standard-bearer.' This settles any doubt, if any doubt existed; v. Patronymica Britannica.

Henry le Eskirmessur, Yorkshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

William le Shyrmisur, Salop, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Peter le Eskurmesur. Calendarium Inquisitionum Post Mortem.

Abraham le Skirmisur, Close Rolls, 34 Henry III.

Elizebetha Skrymsher. Index to Originalia et Memorandum.

Alexander Schirmissure. History of Durham.

Roger le Skirmisour, London. Riley's Memorials of London.

John le Eskirmesour, Berkshire, Henry III-Edward I: Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I.

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

= Skrimshire, q.v.

— Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912) by Henry Harrison

The name of Scrimshaw or Scrimshire is probably a corruption either of "skirmisher" or of its old English form of "scrymgeour." In the reign of Edward I. there was a Henry le Eskyrmessur in Yorkshire, and at the same time there was a William Eschirmisur in Bedfordshire (H. R.). Skrymsher was the name of an old Staffordshire family that owned the manor of Norbury in that county from the 16th to the 18th century (Nichols' "Leicestershire"): two Staffordshire gentlemen of this family contributed £25 apiece for the defence of the country at the time of the expected invasion of the Spanish Armada in 1588 (Sp.). Two centuries ago there were freeholders of the name of Scrimshire at North Muscombe and Newark in the county of Notts (Harleian MS., 6846). There is a memorial in Wisbech church, Cambridgeshire, to William.

— Homes of Family Names in Great Britain (1890) by Henry Brougham Guppy
DNA test information
Display Statistics on:

Scrimshaw Demographics

Average Male Scrimshaw Height

175.41 cm

Average male height (US):
175.3 cm
Sample size: 22 (2014)

Sample is predominantly from Anglosphere countries

View the tallest/shortest surnames in the world

Scrimshaw Last Name Facts

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

The surname Scrimshaw is found in England more than any other country or territory. It can also be rendered in the variant forms:. For other possible spellings of this last name click here.

How Common Is The Last Name Scrimshaw? popularity and diffusion

This last name is the 207,403rd most frequently used family name internationally, held by around 1 in 3,651,075 people. This surname is primarily found in Europe, where 57 percent of Scrimshaw are found; 57 percent are found in Northern Europe and 57 percent are found in British Isles.

The surname Scrimshaw is most commonly used in England, where it is carried by 1,087 people, or 1 in 51,259. In England Scrimshaw is mostly concentrated in: Nottinghamshire, where 19 percent reside, Lincolnshire, where 13 percent reside and West Yorkshire, where 11 percent reside. Besides England it is found in 18 countries. It is also common in The United States, where 12 percent reside and Australia, where 11 percent reside.

Scrimshaw Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The occurrence of Scrimshaw has changed through the years. In England the number of people who held the Scrimshaw surname grew 204 percent between 1881 and 2014 and in The United States it grew 2,008 percent between 1880 and 2014.

Scrimshaw Last Name Statistics demography

In The United States those bearing the Scrimshaw surname are 11.41% more likely to be registered with the Republican Party than the national average, with 58.18% being registered to vote for the party.

The amount Scrimshaw earn in different countries varies somewhat. In United States they earn 16.4% more than the national average, earning $50,225 USD per year and in Canada they earn 5.85% more than the national average, earning $52,590 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

Incidence (high to low)Incidence (low to high)Alphabetic A-ZAlphabetic Z-ASimilarity (high to low)Similarity (low to high)Prevalent jurisdiction A-ZPrevalent jurisdiction Z-A
SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Schrimshaw95110/
Scrimshow891/
Scramshaw891/
Scrinshaw890/
Scrimshew890/
Screamshaw841/
Screamshow741/
Skrinshova631/
Skrimchov561/

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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 Scrimshaw
  • 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