How common is the surname Lyon?

27,690 people in the United States had the surname Lyon in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 11,150 Americans. It ranked 1,271st of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Lyon?

Sue Lyon, American actress (1946–2019), followed by Ben Lyon.

Where is the surname Lyon most common?

Wikidata records people named Lyon in the United States, Canada and Australia.

Is the surname Lyon getting more or less common?

More common. 27,337 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 27,690 in 2010, up 1.3%.

The surname Lyon

An English nickname surname, carried by 27,690 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex L500

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Lyon is more common than 99.2% of them.

Origin

English origin

From Middle English lyon (“lion”), as a nickname, or from a sign often used outside of roadside inns and adopted as a family name by those who lived there (compare Bush). Doublet of Leo, leu, lev, and lion.

Lyon is a nickname surname: from a description or nickname of an ancestor.

One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 27,690 people named Lyon in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 11,150 Americans. That is up 1.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 27,337.

#1,271

rank among US surnames

27,690

people in 2010

9.4

per 100,000 Americans

+1.3%

change since 2000 (was #1,175)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,262	Boggs	27,880	11,074
#1,263	Pryor	27,805	11,104
#1,264	Doherty	27,787	11,111
#1,265	Sargent	27,786	11,112
#1,266	Kenney	27,759	11,122
#1,267	Tuttle	27,751	11,126
#1,268	Denton	27,742	11,129

Who is named Lyon

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

92% of people named Lyon identified as white (not Hispanic), 3.0% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 92%
Black (not Hispanic) 3.0%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
Two or more races 1.6%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Lyons

16 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Sue Lyon
American actress (1946–2019)
Ben Lyon
American actor (1901-1979)
George Lyon
Amateur golfer (1858-1938)
Mary Lyon
American educator (1797–1849)
Nathan Lyon
Australian cricketer, born 1987
Dick Lyon
American rower (1939-2019)
Arthur Lyon
American fencer (1876–1952)
Gordon Lyon
American network security expert, open source programmer, writer, and a hacker, born 1953
Lucius Lyon
American politician (1800–1851)
Caleb Lyon
American politician (1822-1875)
William Lyon
American film editor (1903-1974)
Hilda Lyon
British aeronautical engineer and airship designer, 1896–1946

Notable Lyons come mostly from the United States (13), Canada (1) and Australia (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Lyon

Lyon has the Soundex code L500, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code L500.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Lyon come from?: From Middle English lyon (“lion”), as a nickname, or from a sign often used outside of roadside inns and adopted as a family name by those who lived there (compare Bush). Doublet of Leo, leu, lev, and lion.
How common is the surname Lyon?: 27,690 people in the United States had the surname Lyon in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 11,150 Americans. It ranked 1,271st of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Lyon?: In the 2010 Census, 92% of people named Lyon identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.0% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Lyon?: Sue Lyon, American actress (1946–2019), followed by Ben Lyon.
Where is the surname Lyon most common?: Wikidata records people named Lyon in the United States, Canada and Australia.
What type of surname is Lyon?: Lyon is a nickname surname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor.
Is the surname Lyon getting more or less common?: More common. 27,337 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 27,690 in 2010, up 1.3%.