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

Burnside, 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 Burnside surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Burnside in America

Burnside is the 4009th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Burnside surname appeared 8,859 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Burnside.

We can also compare 2010 data for Burnside 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 Burnside

The surname Burnside has its origins in England, with records dating back to the 13th century. It is a locational name derived from the Old English words "burna" meaning a small stream or brook, and "side" meaning a slope or hillside. Thus, the name likely referred to someone who lived near a small stream on a hillside.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is found in the Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire in 1273, which mentions a Robert de Burneside. Another early reference is in the Subsidy Rolls of Yorkshire from 1297, listing a John de Burnesyde.

The Burnside surname is associated with various place names in England, such as Burnside in Westmorland (now part of Cumbria), Burnside in Lancashire, and Burnside in Yorkshire. These place names likely gave rise to the surname as people migrated from these areas and adopted the locational name as their surname.

In the 16th century, the Burnside surname appears in the Parish Registers of Bury, Lancashire, with the baptism of William Burnside recorded in 1592. Another notable early record is the marriage of John Burnside and Elizabeth Harwood in Manchester in 1625.

Ambrose Burnside (1824-1881) was a famous American soldier and politician who served as a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He is best remembered for his distinctive facial hair style, known as the "burnside" sideburns.

Other notable individuals with the Burnside surname include:

1. Alexander Burnside (1756-1841), a Scottish merchant and landowner in Virginia.
2. Robert Burnside (1759-1826), a Scottish-born American pioneer and politician in Pennsylvania.
3. James Burnside (1826-1894), a Canadian politician and lawyer who served as a member of the Senate of Canada.
4. Dorothy Burnside (1892-1988), an American actress and vaudeville performer.
5. John Burnside (born 1955), a Scottish writer and poet who won the T.S. Eliot Prize in 2011.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Burnside

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

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 Burnside 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 Burnside 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 Burnside was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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