# Thorburn (surname)

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

A surname transferred from the given name.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Norse |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 898 |
| US rank (2010) | 27,002 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 343,815 people |
| Change since 2000 | -0.6% (903 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Thurbon, Thurlbourn |

## Etymology

From a Northern Middle English personal name Thorbern, Thurbern, from Old Norse Þórbjǫrn, which is composed of the elements Þórr (“Thor”) and bjǫrn (“bear”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Thorburn 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) | 93% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 1.8% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.9% |
| Two or more races | 1.3% |

## Similar surnames

Thurber, Tarver, Travers, Trowbridge, Traver, Torbert, Treiber, Traverso, Turrubiartes, Turberville.

## 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.