How common is the surname Whitelaw?

1,210 people in the United States had the surname Whitelaw in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 255,162 Americans. It ranked 21,568th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Whitelaw?

Billie Whitelaw, British actress (1932–2014).

Where is the surname Whitelaw most common?

Wikidata records people named Whitelaw in the United Kingdom.

Is the surname Whitelaw getting more or less common?

More common. 1,158 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 1,210 in 2010, up 4.5%.

The surname Whitelaw

An English place surname, carried by 1,210 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex W340

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Whitelaw is more common than 86.7% of them.

Origin

English origin

Habitational surname from Old English hwīt (“white”) + hlǣw (“hill, mound”).

Whitelaw is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

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 1,210 people named Whitelaw in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 255,162 Americans. That is up 4.5% since 2000, when the Census counted 1,158.

#21,568

rank among US surnames

1,210

people in 2010

0.4

per 100,000 Americans

+4.5%

change since 2000 (was #21,124)

Who is named Whitelaw

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

77% of people named Whitelaw identified as white (not Hispanic), 18% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.7% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 77%
Black (not Hispanic) 18%
Two or more races 2.7%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.9%

The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Asian & Pacific Islander, Native American are not shown.

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Whitelaws

1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

Billie Whitelaw
British actress (1932–2014)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Whitelow

Surnames that sound like Whitelaw

Whitelaw has the Soundex code W340, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W340.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Whitelaw come from?: Habitational surname from Old English hwīt (“white”) + hlǣw (“hill, mound”).
How common is the surname Whitelaw?: 1,210 people in the United States had the surname Whitelaw in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 255,162 Americans. It ranked 21,568th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Whitelaw?: In the 2010 Census, 77% of people named Whitelaw identified as white (not Hispanic), and 18% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Whitelaw?: Billie Whitelaw, British actress (1932–2014).
Where is the surname Whitelaw most common?: Wikidata records people named Whitelaw in the United Kingdom.
What type of surname is Whitelaw?: Whitelaw is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Whitelaw getting more or less common?: More common. 1,158 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 1,210 in 2010, up 4.5%.
What are other spellings of Whitelaw?: Whitelow.