Willoughby Surname

16,119th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 34,563 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
United States
Highest density in:
Isle of Man

Willoughby Surname Definition:

(Scandinavian) belonging to Willoughby (several) = the Willow-Farm [from an Old Norse cognate (*uilgi-r) ol Old English wylig = Low German wilge = Dutch wilg, willow + Old Norse bý-r, farmstead] One of the Linc. townships occurs as Willabyg in the nth cent.

Read More About This Surname

Willoughby Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States21,5871:16,7912,126
England5,5651:10,0121,481
Australia3,1981:8,4411,258
Canada1,5371:23,9723,262
South Africa5901:91,82711,236
New Zealand5161:8,7761,517
Nigeria3731:474,91423,911
Ireland2181:21,6012,178
Jamaica1441:19,9301,749
Scotland1421:37,7033,617
Northern Ireland1061:17,4062,244
Belize851:4,182771
Wales641:48,3524,540
Barbados541:5,323596
Trinidad and Tobago481:28,4162,997
Isle of Man271:3,179679
Thailand261:2,716,859279,944
Malta241:17,9281,021
Norway201:257,11427,149
Netherlands191:888,79962,169
Sweden191:518,25037,550
Singapore171:323,98313,856
Colombia161:2,985,88014,490
Sudan161:2,344,3874,438
France141:4,744,480251,814
Guyana131:58,6324,970
Germany101:8,050,546248,660
United Arab Emirates91:1,018,03036,884
Qatar91:262,00030,726
Panama81:489,0328,962
Malaysia71:4,213,461150,293
Spain61:7,792,006100,283
China61:227,886,92811,701
Israel51:1,711,52784,568
Philippines51:20,247,645262,352
Italy41:15,289,172132,955
Brazil41:53,518,583632,670
Denmark41:1,411,17960,800
India31:255,688,4611,306,352
Mexico31:41,375,40271,397
South Korea31:17,080,0852,793
Jersey31:33,0674,675
Czechia21:5,316,734169,646
Hong Kong21:3,667,74211,574
Japan21:63,922,14662,827
Vietnam11:92,646,0548,382
Tanzania11:52,941,613123,716
Guinea11:11,833,8173,268
Guatemala11:16,082,66812,169
Guam11:160,1214,893
Greece11:11,079,790145,225
Uruguay11:3,431,75838,295
Syria11:19,301,02222,457
Estonia11:1,321,80440,178
Zimbabwe11:15,438,240133,260
Bahrain11:1,348,60810,432
Egypt11:91,935,754132,737
Dominican Republic11:10,432,93236,508
Angola11:26,989,21411,853
Afghanistan11:32,153,18360,828
Taiwan11:23,444,74693,622
Bermuda11:65,2793,010
Switzerland11:8,212,915156,297
Chile11:17,616,47493,597
Jordan11:8,842,43726,010
Belgium11:11,496,644167,539
Liberia11:4,408,53547,110
Sierra Leone11:7,089,6311,533
Libya11:6,243,9746,186
Saudi Arabia11:30,855,81763,028
Russia11:144,123,056881,408
Luxembourg11:580,54215,155
Portugal11:10,418,24125,048
Monaco11:37,0664,748
Papua New Guinea11:8,153,717181,784
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Ireland1881:23,5632,611
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England2,5531:9,5481,437
Scotland341:110,0955,249
Wales161:98,0264,293
Jersey11:51,8823,898
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States2,4781:20,2662,562

Willoughby (514) may also be a first name.

Willoughby Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

(Scandinavian) belonging to Willoughby (several) = the Willow-Farm [from an Old Norse cognate (*uilgi-r) ol Old English wylig = Low German wilge = Dutch wilg, willow + Old Norse bý-r, farmstead] One of the Linc. townships occurs as Willabyg in the nth cent.; another as Wylugheby in the 13th cent. The Warw. parish, Wylughbi in the 14th cent., was Wilebei in Domesday-Book. Two of the three Notts places were Wilghebi c. 1200 and Wilgebi in Domesday-Bk., in which the Leic. Willoughby is entered as Wilechebi (ch for g).

2 Wilsden (Yorks), the Domesday Wilsedene-Wille’s Valley [Old English denu, a valley]

Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912) by Henry Harrison

(English) One who came from Willoughby (homestead among willows), the name of various places in England.

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

Lord Middleton's family spring from Sir William de Willoughby, Lord of Willoughby, co. Lincoln, in the reign of Edward I. Shirley's Noble and Gentle Men. In a genealogy of the family drawn up temp. Elizabeth, Sir John de Willoughby, a Norman knight, is said to have held that estate by gift of William the Conqueror. In 54. Henry II. Sir William de Willoughby went to the Holy Land with Prince Edward. Ext. Peerage.

Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower

Local. From the lordship of Willoughby, in Lincolnshire, England, given to a Norman knight by William the Conqueror.—The town or habitation by the willows.

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

Or De Muscamp, from Muscamp, Normandy, which was held by a branch of De Tilly (MSAN, xv. 175). This family settled at the Conquest in the north of England. In 1130 Reginald was of Northumberland (Rot. Pip.). Hugh de M., t. Henry I., gave lands to Nostel Priory, York (Mon. ii. 35) and 1165 Thomas was of Notts, and Hugh of Lincoln and York (Lib. Niger). Roger held Wilgebi, Lincoln, 1086. Robert de Muscam, his son, Seneschal to Gilbert de Gand, had issue Robert (Mon. i. 963), whose son Hugh de M. has been mentioned. His nephew, Ralph de Wilebi, occurs 1199 and 1208 (RCR, Hardy, Obl. et fin. 408). His great grandson, Sir William de Willoughby, m. the heiress of De Bec, Baron of Eresby; and hence sprang the Lords Willoughby of Eresby, so renowned in the French wars, and the Lords Middleton, Willoughby de Broke, and W. of Parham.

The Norman People (1874)

A location name in Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire.

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

Willoughby Last Name Facts

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

The last name Willoughby is borne by more people in The United States than any other country/territory. It can occur as:. Click here for further potential spellings of this surname.

How Common Is The Last Name Willoughby? popularity and diffusion

The last name Willoughby is the 16,119th most numerous last name world-wide It is held by around 1 in 210,848 people. The surname is primarily found in The Americas, where 68 percent of Willoughby are found; 67 percent are found in North America and 67 percent are found in Anglo-North America. Willoughby is also the 372,822nd most common given name on earth, borne by 514 people.

It is most frequently used in The United States, where it is borne by 21,587 people, or 1 in 16,791. In The United States Willoughby is primarily concentrated in: Kentucky, where 9 percent are found, Georgia, where 7 percent are found and North Carolina, where 7 percent are found. Besides The United States Willoughby is found in 74 countries. It is also found in England, where 16 percent are found and Australia, where 9 percent are found.

Willoughby Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The frequency of Willoughby has changed over time. In The United States the number of people bearing the Willoughby surname grew 871 percent between 1880 and 2014; in England it grew 218 percent between 1881 and 2014; in Ireland it grew 116 percent between 1901 and 2014; in Scotland it grew 418 percent between 1881 and 2014 and in Wales it grew 400 percent between 1881 and 2014.

Willoughby Last Name Statistics demography

The religious adherence of those holding the last name is primarily Anglican (61%) in Ireland.

In The United States those holding the Willoughby surname are 15.14% more likely to be registered Republicans than the national average, with 61.91% registered to vote for the political party.

The amount Willoughby earn in different countries varies markedly. In Norway they earn 23.17% more than the national average, earning 426,265 kr per year; in South Africa they earn 32.29% more than the national average, earning R 314,364 per year; in Colombia they earn 9.14% less than the national average, earning $20,628,600 COP per year; in United States they earn 0.55% less than the national average, earning $42,912 USD per year and in Canada they earn 5.1% more than the national average, earning $52,219 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

Search for Another Surname

Willoughby Reference & Research

Willoughby DNA Website - A web page dedicated to the genetic research of those who bear the surname and its variants.

Willoughby FamilyTree DNA Project - A description of a group researching the paternal lines of men who bear the surname with the help of DNA analysis.

The name statistics are still in development, sign up for information on more maps and data

By signing up to the mailing list you will only receive emails specifically about name reference on Forebears and your information will not be distributed to 3rd parties.

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 Willoughby
  • 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