Find out how popular the last name Abercrombie is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Abercrombie.

Abercrombie, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Abercrombie surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Abercrombie in America

Abercrombie is the 5405th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Abercrombie surname appeared 6,439 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Abercrombie.

We can also compare 2010 data for Abercrombie to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Abercrombie

The surname Abercrombie is of Scottish origin and can be traced back to the 12th century. It derives from the Gaelic words 'Aber' meaning 'confluence of waters' and 'crombie' which was the name of a small place near the River Forth in West Lothian, Scotland. The earliest known spelling of the name was 'Abircrumby' which appeared in records from the late 12th century.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Abercrombie name was in the Ragman Rolls of 1296, which were a series of medieval homage rolls documenting the Scottish nobility's sworn allegiance to King Edward I of England. The name William de Abyrcromby appears on these records. Another early record dates back to 1329 when John de Abircromby witnessed a charter granted by Robert I, King of Scots.

In the 15th century, the Abercrombie family held lands in the parish of Tullibody, Clackmannanshire. A record from 1489 mentions Alexander Abircromby being granted a charter of lands in Fife. By the 16th century, the name had evolved to its modern spelling.

One notable person with this surname was Sir Ralph Abercromby (1734-1801), a Scottish soldier and politician. He served as a general in the British Army and played a key role in several major campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars.

Another famous Abercrombie was John Abercrombie (1780-1844), a Scottish physician and philosopher. He published several influential works on intellectual philosophy and was a prominent figure in the Scottish Enlightenment.

In the field of literature, Lascelles Abercrombie (1881-1938) was an English poet and literary critic. He was associated with the Georgian Poetry movement and wrote several volumes of poetry, including "Interludes and Poems" and "The Sale of St. Thomas".

The name Abercrombie is also linked to the town of Abercrombie in New South Wales, Australia, which was named after James Abercrombie, a colonial surveyor and explorer in the early 19th century.

Finally, one cannot discuss the Abercrombie name without mentioning David Abercrombie (1867-1926), a Scottish-American businessman who co-founded the clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch in 1892.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Abercrombie

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Abercrombie.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Abercrombie was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Abercrombie has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Abercrombie was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Abercrombie, please contact us.

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