Telfair Surname

421,746th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 822 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
United States
Highest density in:
Northern Ireland

Telfair Surname Definition:

(English) One who cut iron.

##### (English) One who made or sold linen cloth.

Telfair Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States7811:464,09639,562
Northern Ireland141:131,7887,342
England101:5,571,806158,774
Wales71:442,07621,198
Canada61:6,140,932260,641
China11:1,367,321,56651,149
Mauritius11:1,293,41716,552
Russia11:144,123,056881,408
South Korea11:51,240,2568,015
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Ireland61:738,31121,113
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England141:1,741,09855,534
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States2531:198,49317,293

Telfair (39) may also be a first name.

Telfair Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

(English) One who cut iron.

##### (English) One who made or sold linen cloth.

Dictionary of American Family Names (1956) by Elsdon Coles Smith

(Italian.) Tagliaferro, pronounced Tollifer. French, tailler, to cut, and fer, iron. It is said that the first of the name was so called from having cut a bar of iron in two with his sword. A smith.

An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names (1857) by William Arthur

The same as Telfer, from the Norman name Taillefer = cut-iron. Lower says, "The exploits of the noble jonglere Taillefer at the battle of Hastings are well known. William, Count of Angouleme, in a battle against the Northmen, engaged their king, Storris, and with one stroke of his sword Durissima, forged by the great Wayland Smith, cut in two his body and cuirass. Hence he acquired the sobriquet of Taillefer, or 'cut iron'" In the sixteenth century the name in Scotland was written Tailzefer. Telfer, the celebrated engineer, not aware of the origin of his name, changed it to Telford. Hence no doubt Talford, Talfourd, Tolfrey, and Tolfree.

Ludus Patronymicus (1868) by Richard Stephen Charnock

Telfair Last Name Facts

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

The surname Telfair is found in The United States more than any other country/territory. It may also appear as:. For other possible spellings of this surname click here.

How Common Is The Last Name Telfair? popularity and diffusion

The last name is the 421,746th most widespread surname on a worldwide basis It is held by approximately 1 in 8,865,628 people. It is primarily found in The Americas, where 96 percent of Telfair are found; 96 percent are found in North America and 96 percent are found in Anglo-North America. It is also the 1,637,361st most frequently held first name on earth, held by 39 people.

The surname is most widespread in The United States, where it is held by 781 people, or 1 in 464,096. In The United States it is mostly found in: Florida, where 19 percent are found, New York, where 15 percent are found and Georgia, where 14 percent are found. Without taking into account The United States it is found in 8 countries. It also occurs in Northern Ireland, where 2 percent are found and England, where 1 percent are found.

Telfair Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The prevalency of Telfair has changed through the years. In The United States the number of people bearing the Telfair surname rose 309 percent between 1880 and 2014 and in England it contracted 29 percent between 1881 and 2014.

Telfair Last Name Statistics demography

The religious adherence of those bearing the Telfair last name is principally Anglican (50%) in Ireland.

In The United States Telfair are 16% more likely to be registered with the Democratic Party than The US average, with 69.23% being registered to vote for the political party.

Telfair earn notably less less than the average income. In United States they earn 15.79% less than the national average, earning $36,337 USD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Telfaire9357/
Tellfair930/
Telfar92100/
Tlfair920/
Telfare8675/
Telfarr862/
Tilfair860/
Telfier860/
Tellfare801/
Tellfier800/
Telfer7712,281/
Telfre770/
Thelfer7121/
Telfour7117/
Tellfer712/
Teelfer711/
Telferd711/
Telphir711/
Telffer711/
Thlefar711/
Tilfier710/
Tilfard710/
Tlfer671/
Teelferd670/
Telfourd670/
Telferová631/
Tilfer625/
Telpher576/
Tilferd570/
Tilfourd530/

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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 Telfair
  • 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