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

Elison, 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 Elison surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Elison in America

Elison is the 29854th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Elison surname appeared 787 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Elison.

We can also compare 2010 data for Elison 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 Elison

The surname Elison is believed to have originated in England, with its earliest known records dating back to the 13th century. The name is thought to be derived from the Old English words "ela" (meaning "eel") and "tun" (meaning "enclosure" or "town"), suggesting that the name may have referred to someone who lived in a town or settlement near an eel pond or eel-fishing area.

One of the earliest known records of the name Elison can be found in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire from 1273, which mentions a person named William Elison. The name also appears in various other medieval records, such as the Pipe Rolls and the Subsidy Rolls, albeit with different spellings like Ellyson, Elyson, and Elyssen.

In the 14th century, the surname Elison was particularly prevalent in the counties of Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and Wiltshire, where it is believed to have originated. The earliest known bearer of the name was John Elison, who was recorded in the Subsidy Rolls of Oxfordshire in 1327.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the name Elison began to spread to other parts of England, with notable bearers including William Elison (c. 1530-1598), a prominent landowner and member of the gentry in Northamptonshire, and Sir Thomas Elison (1585-1652), a member of the English Parliament and a supporter of the Parliamentarian cause during the English Civil War.

In the 18th century, the Elison family continued to be well-established in various parts of England, with several notable individuals bearing the name. These include John Elison (1718-1795), a renowned mathematician and astronomer who served as the Savilian Professor of Geometry at the University of Oxford, and William Elison (1743-1819), a successful merchant and philanthropist from Yorkshire.

The 19th century saw the Elison surname spread further across the British Isles and beyond, with individuals such as Sir Charles Elison (1822-1897), a British colonial administrator who served as the Governor of Natal in South Africa, and James Elison (1855-1924), a Scottish journalist and author who wrote extensively on the history and culture of the Scottish Highlands.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Elison

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!