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The surname Lyons

A surname, carried by 84,516 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex L520

Lyons: #369 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Lyons #369, 84,516 people Lyons: #369 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott Lyons #369, 84,516 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Lyons is more common than 99.8% of them.

Origin

From Old French Lyons (nominative of Lyon), from the Roman name, Latin Lugdūnum (“fort of Lug”), named after Lugus, a Celtic deity, from Proto-Celtic *Lugus.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 84,516 people named Lyons in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 3,653 Americans. That is up 2.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 82,258.

#369
rank among US surnames
84,516
people in 2010
29
per 100,000 Americans
+2.7%
change since 2000 (was #339)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#360Barker87,1623,542
#361Terry87,0003,549
#362Hale86,6183,564
#363Leon86,3633,575
#364Hail86,2403,580
#365Benson86,0813,587
#366Haynes85,9743,591

Who is named Lyons

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

75% of people named Lyons identified as white (not Hispanic), 19% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

  • White (not Hispanic) 75%
  • Black (not Hispanic) 19%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
  • Two or more races 2.1%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native 1.0%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Lyonss

14 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • Joseph Lyons
    Australian politician, 10th Prime Minister of Australia (1879-1939)
  • David Lyons
    Australian actor, born 1976
  • Nancy Lyons
    Australian swimmer, Olympic silver medallist, born 1930
  • Ted Lyons
    American baseball player and coach (1900-1986)
  • John Lyons
    American ice hockey player (1900–1971)
  • Eugene Lyons
    20th-century American journalist and writer, 1898–1985
  • Eddie Lyons
    American actor, film director (1886–1926)
  • Brooke Lyons
    American actress, born 1980
  • Enid Lyons
    Australian politician, 1897–1981
  • Leo Lyons
    American basketball player (born 1987)
  • Robert F. Lyons
    American actor, born 1939
  • Jennifer Lyons
    American actress, born 1977

Notable Lyonss come mostly from the United States (9) and Australia (5).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Lyons

Lyons has the Soundex code L520, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code L520.

Questions

Where does the surname Lyons come from?
From Old French Lyons (nominative of Lyon), from the Roman name, Latin Lugdūnum (“fort of Lug”), named after Lugus, a Celtic deity, from Proto-Celtic *Lugus.
How common is the surname Lyons?
84,516 people in the United States had the surname Lyons in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 3,653 Americans. It ranked 369th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Lyons?
In the 2010 Census, 75% of people named Lyons identified as white (not Hispanic), and 19% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Lyons?
Joseph Lyons, Australian politician, 10th Prime Minister of Australia (1879-1939), followed by David Lyons.
Where is the surname Lyons most common?
Wikidata records people named Lyons in the United States and Australia.
Is the surname Lyons getting more or less common?
More common. 82,258 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 84,516 in 2010, up 2.7%.