Thorburn Surname

60,135th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 8,382 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
Australia
Highest density in:
Scotland

Thorburn Surname Definition:

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Thurbern' (Thorbjorn occurs fifty-one times in Iceland Roll, Yonge, ii. 205). Torbern and Thurbern, Domesday; compare Osbern.

William Thorebern, Oxfordshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

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Thorburn Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Australia1,7561:15,3732,182
Scotland1,4251:3,757659
England1,3301:41,8935,364
United States1,2561:288,58226,808
Canada1,0031:36,7354,669
New Zealand9321:4,859782
South Africa2641:205,21921,868
Wales1021:30,3393,079
Sweden821:120,0828,566
Jamaica341:84,4103,809
Cyprus201:44,2444,510
France201:3,321,136213,627
Netherlands171:993,36365,241
Singapore171:323,98313,856
Switzerland131:631,76343,230
Finland121:458,05828,977
Iceland91:42,2322,922
Isle of Man71:12,2602,387
Zimbabwe71:2,205,46397,905
United Arab Emirates61:1,527,04651,993
Qatar61:393,00055,922
Norway61:857,04855,549
Northern Ireland51:369,00715,220
Namibia41:602,35012,421
Thailand41:17,659,586685,799
Sri Lanka41:5,202,14012,146
Romania41:5,019,46862,922
Hong Kong41:1,833,8716,220
Malaysia31:9,831,408269,765
United States Virgin Islands21:55,1886,229
Ireland21:2,354,47019,715
Papua New Guinea21:4,076,858165,791
Brazil21:107,037,1661,031,150
Zambia21:7,924,96145,994
Croatia21:2,114,30285,143
Czechia21:5,316,734169,646
Spain21:23,376,018128,922
Taiwan11:23,444,74693,622
Philippines11:101,238,223404,861
Syria11:19,301,02222,457
Dominican Republic11:10,432,93236,508
Hungary11:9,816,27773,288
Vietnam11:92,646,0548,382
China11:1,367,321,56651,149
Gambia11:1,923,4511,043
Cayman Islands11:63,8932,384
Brunei11:418,7313,893
Indonesia11:132,249,194811,426
Belgium11:11,496,644167,539
Austria11:8,515,435118,036
Germany11:80,505,459560,955
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Ireland81:553,73317,655
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Scotland1,2381:3,024516
England4821:50,5716,152
Wales291:54,0832,718
Jersey51:10,3761,795
Isle of Man11:54,2692,077
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States1741:288,61323,092

Thorburn (25) may also be a first name.

Thorburn Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Thurbern' (Thorbjorn occurs fifty-one times in Iceland Roll, Yonge, ii. 205). Torbern and Thurbern, Domesday; compare Osbern.

William Thorebern, Oxfordshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Richard Thorbarn, Oxfordshire, ibid.

Dominus Thurbern, Suffolk, ibid.

Nicholas Thurbern, Wiltshire, ibid.

Philip Thorbarn, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

1574. Miles Case and Agnes Thurbarne: Marriage Lic. (London).

1808. Married — John Thorburn and Ann Atkins, or Atkinson: St. George, Hanover Square.

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

From the Old English personal name Thurbrand, as shown by the ending -brand in the early spellings of the name. Ricardus Torbrand was provost of Aberdeen, 1330 (ER, I, p. 308). Thomas Thurbrande was a notary public in the diocese of Glasgow, 1456 (Laing, 142), and Thomas Thurbrandson, also a notary in the same document, may have been his son. John Thorbrand was fined in 1478 for cutting green wood in the forest of Selkirk (ER, VIII, p. 480). John Thornbrand appears in Peebles, 1505 (Peebles, 33), and Robert Thornebraid (i an error for n) is in record in Glenholm, Peeblesshire, 1544 (RMS, III, 3023). John Thorbrand was tenant in Stobo, 1533 (Rental), Robert Thurbrand, tenant on lands of Newbattle Abbey, 1563 (Neubotle, p. 325), and George Thurbrand appears in Kelso Abbey rental in 1567 (Kelso, p. 521). Walter Thorbrand in Lessuddane, 1605, and William Thorebrand in Greenhead, 1664 (RRM., I, p. 2; II, p. 95). William Thorbrane, mason in Edinburgh, 1615 (Edinb. Marr.). Archibald Thoirbrand in Dolphington, 1624 (Lanark CR.), and Catharine Thornbrand and Helena Thornebrand were retoured heirs of M'agister Thomas Hog 'apud La Rochefort in Regno Galliae,' 1627 Inquis., 1322—23). John Thorebrand, tailor in Edinburgh, 1643 (Edinb. Marr.), William Thorbran in Schort cleuch, parish of Crawford-Lindsay, 1655, and David Thorburne in Staine, parish of Biggar, 1670 (Lanark CR.). James Thoreburne, Nethertoun of Dallsible, and Mathew Thornebrand, merchant in Dumfries, appear in 1679 (Dumfries), George Torburn, tenant in West Loch, parish of Edhilstane, 1675 (Edin. App.), William Torbrane, provost of Stranraer, 1715 (Wigtown), and Thomas Torburn in Blainderry is in record, 1743 (Wigtown). There are families of the name in Sweden, descended from William Thorburn of Leith, who in 1823 migrated to that country. Grant Thorburn (1773—1863), merchant and publicist, New York, was born in Dalkeith. His great-grandson, S, Grant Thorburn, was mayor of Clifton, New Jersey, 1927.

The Surnames of Scotland (1946) by George Fraser Black (1866-1948)

(Scandinavian) Thor-Bear [Old Norse Thorbiörn-. v. Thor, and + Old Norse biörn, björn, a bear] The O.Norse Thorbiörn was Anglicized Thurbe(o)rn [Old English be(o)rn, warrior], Torbern and Turbern are the Domesday forms. Thorebern, Thorbarn, and Thurbern occur as surnames in the Hundred- Rolls, a.d. 1274.

Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912) by Henry Harrison

From the Old Norse, Þór-björn; from the Swedish, Torbiörn; from the Danish, Thorbjoern; from the Dutch, Torbein; from the German, Turbin; in the Domesday Book, Thurbern, Torbern; a personal name.

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

Thorburn Last Name Facts

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

The surname Thorburn is found most frequently in Australia. It can appear as:. For other possible spellings of this surname click here.

How Common Is The Last Name Thorburn? popularity and diffusion

This surname is the 60,135th most frequent family name internationally, held by approximately 1 in 869,428 people. The last name Thorburn is mostly found in Europe, where 37 percent of Thorburn reside; 36 percent reside in Northern Europe and 34 percent reside in British Isles. It is also the 2,136,160th most frequently held first name at a global level It is held by 25 people.

The last name is most prevalent in Australia, where it is borne by 1,756 people, or 1 in 15,373. In Australia it is primarily concentrated in: Victoria, where 47 percent are found, Queensland, where 30 percent are found and New South Wales, where 15 percent are found. Not including Australia this last name exists in 50 countries. It is also common in Scotland, where 17 percent are found and England, where 16 percent are found.

Thorburn Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The incidence of Thorburn has changed through the years. In Scotland the share of the population with the surname increased 115 percent between 1881 and 2014; in England it increased 276 percent between 1881 and 2014; in The United States it increased 722 percent between 1880 and 2014; in Wales it increased 352 percent between 1881 and 2014 and in Ireland it declined 75 percent between 1901 and 2014.

Thorburn Last Name Statistics demography

The religious adherence of those bearing the Thorburn last name is chiefly Presbyterian (75%) in Ireland.

In The United States Thorburn are 4.21% more likely to be registered Republicans than The US average, with 50.98% being registered to vote for the political party.

The amount Thorburn earn in different countries varies greatly. In South Africa they earn 75.87% more than the national average, earning R 417,924 per year; in United States they earn 8.74% more than the national average, earning $46,919 USD per year and in Canada they earn 0.85% less than the national average, earning $49,259 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Thorburne9467/
Thorbourn947/
Thourburn943/
Torburn9320/
Thorbourne89340/
Thorborn8828/
Therburn881/
Tharburn880/
Thourbourne841/
Therbourn820/
Tarburn8020/
Tarrburn751/
Törborn538/

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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 Thorburn
  • 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