2000
#3,854
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 8,470
First available Census row
Per 100,000 3.14
Rare Last name
Burnside
A locational surname derived from a place beside a stream or the burnt side of a hill.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 9,839 Americans carry the last name Burnside. That puts it at #4,016 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 2.87 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 34,836 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Burnside surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
For British records, Name Census UK has a British surname profile for Burnside with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
9.8K
1 in 34,836
Census rank
#4,016
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
2.9
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
8.6K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 8,580 bearers of the surname Burnside in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 2.87 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 4016th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Burnside, the largest self-reported group is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Black (24.1%) and Two or More Races (4.3%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of 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.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Burnside
Among Census respondents with the surname Burnside, the largest self-reported group is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Black (24.1%) and Two or More Races (4.3%).
The bar chart below shows how Burnside bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Burnside surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.7% · 5,636
- Black or African American24.1% · 2,070
- Two or more races4.3% · 367
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 283
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 167
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 57
Timeline
Historical Census data for Burnside
Burnside appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#4,009
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 8,859
+389 bearers (+4.6%)
Per 100,000 3.00
Rank movement Down 155 places
2020
#4,016
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 8,580
-279 bearers (-3.1%)
Per 100,000 2.87
Rank movement Down 7 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #3,854 | 8,470 | 3.14 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #4,009 | 8,859 | 3.00 | +389 bearers (+4.6%) | Down 155 places |
| 2020 | #4,016 | 8,580 | 2.87 | -279 bearers (-3.1%) | Down 7 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Burnside surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #4,009 | #4,016 | -0.2% |
| Count | 8,859 | 8,580 | -3.1% |
| Per 100K | 3.00 | 2.87 | -4.3% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Burnside bearers went from 8,859 to 8,580 (-3.1% change). The surname moved down 7 positions in the national ranking, going from #4,009 to #4,016.
FAQ
Burnside surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Burnside?
Name Census estimates that about 9,839 living Americans carry the surname Burnside. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 34,836 residents.
How common is Burnside?
Burnside ranks #4,016 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 2.87 per 100,000 residents, which is about 3 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 8,580 people with the surname Burnside. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (9,839), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 2.87 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 2.87 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 3 of them to have the surname Burnside.
Has Burnside become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Burnside went from 8,859 recorded bearers to 8,580. That is a decrease of 279 (-3.1%). In the national ranking it fell from #4,009 to #4,016.
What does the Census say about the background of Burnside?
Among Census respondents with the surname Burnside, the largest self-reported group is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Black (24.1%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Burnside in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.7% (5,636 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Burnside appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (65.7%), Black (24.1%), Two or More Races (4.3%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Burnside (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Burnside mean?
A locational surname derived from a place beside a stream or the burnt side of a hill. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Burnside (2.87 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people have the surname Burnside?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.