Whitelaw Surname

57,942nd
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 8,733 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
Scotland
Highest density in:
Scotland

Whitelaw Surname Definition:

Territorial, from the lands of Whitelaw in the parish of Morebattle. There was also a barony of Whitelaw in the parish of Bowden. John de Wytelowe of the county of Edneburk, who rendered homage, 1296 (Bain, II, p. 203), was ancestor of Whitelaws of that Ilk near Dunbar (Nisbet on RR.

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Whitelaw Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Scotland2,1051:2,543472
United States1,8801:192,79719,072
Australia1,8331:14,7282,089
England1,4161:39,3495,091
Canada9221:39,9634,995
New Zealand2151:21,0623,698
South Africa1501:361,18532,866
Wales321:96,7047,743
Northern Ireland261:70,9635,105
Ireland211:224,2358,707
Isle of Man141:6,1301,329
France111:6,038,429280,838
Uruguay111:311,97820,848
United Arab Emirates111:832,93427,512
Malaysia101:2,949,422111,742
Qatar91:262,00030,726
Thailand81:8,829,793476,604
Netherlands51:3,377,435111,911
Portugal41:2,604,56016,079
Barbados41:71,8621,737
Brazil41:53,518,583632,670
Switzerland41:2,053,22997,179
Spain41:11,688,009116,470
Greece41:2,769,948101,568
Jersey31:33,0674,675
Sweden31:3,282,252190,759
Denmark21:2,822,35876,882
Hong Kong21:3,667,74211,574
Italy21:30,578,344160,757
Jamaica11:2,869,94713,896
Cyprus11:884,87613,055
Argentina11:42,743,414282,706
Germany11:80,505,459560,955
Bahrain11:1,348,60810,432
Belgium11:11,496,644167,539
Vanuatu11:263,2762,086
India11:767,065,3821,851,717
Indonesia11:132,249,194811,426
Mexico11:124,126,205103,776
Japan11:127,844,29373,547
Chile11:17,616,47493,597
Colombia11:47,774,07244,230
Saudi Arabia11:30,855,81763,028
Russia11:144,123,056881,408
Oman11:3,687,97114,390
Norway11:5,142,286129,201
Costa Rica11:4,780,06913,345
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Ireland371:119,7267,101
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Scotland1,4991:2,497445
England2941:82,9098,826
Wales41:392,10412,338
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States3941:127,45912,279

Whitelaw (31) may also be a first name.

Whitelaw Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

Territorial, from the lands of Whitelaw in the parish of Morebattle. There was also a barony of Whitelaw in the parish of Bowden. John de Wytelowe of the county of Edneburk, who rendered homage, 1296 (Bain, II, p. 203), was ancestor of Whitelaws of that Ilk near Dunbar (Nisbet on RR.). His seal bears a seven-leaved flower and S' Joh's de Vitlav (Bain, II, p. 5441. John Whitelaw de eodem, a juror on inquest on bounds of lands of Gladmor (Gladsmuir), 1430 (Hadd. Chs. & Writs, 16). Archibald de Quhitelaw, archdeacon of St. Andrews 'infra partes Laudonie' in 1470 (Soltre, p. 319), appears again in 1486-88 as Archibald Quhitelaw and Quhitlau (Bain, IV, 1520-1521; RMP., p. 264). He was an eminent prelate and secretary of state to James in (Neubotle, p. 256; Bain, IV, 1564). Patrick Quhitlaw was feufarmer of Pettindreich, 1560 (ER., XIX p. 102), and Bartholomew Quhytlaw had an instrument of sasine of land in Paxtoun, 1578 (Home, 231). Margaret Quhytlaw was retoured heir of Patrick Quhytlaw de eodem, 1586 (Retours, Linlithgow, 15-17). Quhitelau 1467, Quhyetlaw 1564, Quhytelaw 1564, Whitlau 1736, Whitlawe 1457, Whytlaw 1653; Qwhytlawe.

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

(English) Dweller at the White Hill [Old English hwít + hlœw, a hill, (burial) mound]

Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912) by Henry Harrison

One of the Cheviot hills is so called. "Several of this name are mentioned in the Ragman Roll; and in the reign of King James II. one Archibald Whitelaw was an eminent prelate, and secretary of state to that king." Nisbet.

Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower

From Whitlow; a location name in Northumberland.

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

Whitelaw Last Name Facts

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

The surname Whitelaw is carried by more people in Scotland than any other country/territory. It can also be found as:. For other possible spellings of Whitelaw click here.

How Common Is The Last Name Whitelaw? popularity and diffusion

Whitelaw is the 57,942nd most frequently occurring last name on earth It is held by approximately 1 in 834,484 people. Whitelaw occurs mostly in Europe, where 42 percent of Whitelaw reside; 41 percent reside in Northern Europe and 41 percent reside in British Isles. It is also the 1,874,099th most common first name throughout the world. It is borne by 31 people.

The last name is most widespread in Scotland, where it is carried by 2,105 people, or 1 in 2,543. In Scotland it is most common in: Glasgow City, where 12 percent reside, South Lanarkshire, where 12 percent reside and North Lanarkshire, where 8 percent reside. Beside Scotland this last name is found in 46 countries. It is also found in The United States, where 22 percent reside and Australia, where 21 percent reside.

Whitelaw Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The prevalency of Whitelaw has changed through the years. In Scotland the number of people who held the Whitelaw last name expanded 140 percent between 1881 and 2014; in The United States it expanded 477 percent between 1880 and 2014; in England it expanded 482 percent between 1881 and 2014; in Wales it expanded 800 percent between 1881 and 2014 and in Ireland it fell 43 percent between 1901 and 2014.

Whitelaw Last Name Statistics demography

The religious devotion of those carrying the last name is principally Catholic (38%) in Ireland.

In The United States those bearing the Whitelaw surname are 9.4% more likely to be registered with the Republican Party than the national average, with 56.17% being registered to vote for the political party.

The amount Whitelaw earn in different countries varies significantly. In South Africa they earn 38.71% more than the national average, earning R 329,616 per year; in United States they earn 10.43% more than the national average, earning $47,648 USD per year and in Canada they earn 7.19% more than the national average, earning $53,254 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Whhitelaw941/
Witelaw931/
Whitelow88695/
Whytelaw885/
Whiteleaf823/
Whitelowe822/
Whitelauf820/
Waitelow751/
Whitleow751/
Bitelow673/
Vitolaw671/

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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 Whitelaw
  • 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