# Elgin (surname)

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

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Scottish Gaelic |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 3,036 |
| US rank (2010) | 10,555 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 101,695 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.3% (2,969 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɛlɡɪn/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As a Scottish surname, derived from the place in Morayshire, from Scottish Gaelic Eilginn, possibly meaning little Ireland, from Èirinn. * As a Turkish surname, from the obsolete noun elgin (“stranger”); see el. * The village in New Brunswick is probably named in honour of colonial administrator James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin (1811-1863). The civil parish is named after the village.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Elgin 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) | 88% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 5.9% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.1% |
| Two or more races | 1.5% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Elgin in the United States.

## People named Elgin

- Suzette Haden Elgin, American linguist and writer (1936-2015)

## Similar surnames

Ellison, Elkins, Eliason, Elkin, Elizondo, Elson, Elsner.

## 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.