# Chisholm (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/chisholm/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Old English [in turn from locations].

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 12,503 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,878 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 24,694 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.0% (12,027 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈtʃɪz.əm/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Chisolm |

## Etymology

Scottish habitational surname, from Old English ċīese (“cheese”) + holm (“piece of dry land in a fen”) or helm (“shed, barn”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Chisholm in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 65% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 29% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.6% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 2.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Chisholm in the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Australia.

## People named Chisholm

- Sallie W. Chisholm, American oceanographer, marine biologist
- Roderick Chisholm, American philosopher and logician (1916–1999)
- Tanya Chisholm, American actress
- Erik Chisholm, 20th century Scottish composer and conductor (1904–1965)
- Caroline Chisholm, 19th century English humanitarian who provided support for immigrant females in Australia
- Linda Chisholm, American volleyball player
- Anthony Chisholm, American actor (1943–2020)
- Mark Chisholm, Australian rugby union player
- Bridget Bate Tichenor, British-American artist, surrealist painter, fashion editor (1917–1990)

## Similar surnames

Chisolm, Coughlin, Coghlan, Coughlan, Casselman.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.