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

Fishburn, 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 Fishburn surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Fishburn in America

Fishburn is the 15471st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Fishburn surname appeared 1,893 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Fishburn.

We can also compare 2010 data for Fishburn 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 Fishburn

The surname Fishburn has its origins in England, where it first emerged in the medieval period. The name is believed to be derived from the Old English words 'fisc' meaning fish and 'burna' meaning stream or brook, suggesting it may have originally referred to someone who lived near a stream where fishing took place.

Fishburn is a locational surname, which means it likely originated from a place name. There are several villages and hamlets in England named Fishburn, including those in Yorkshire, County Durham, and Northumberland. It's possible that the earliest bearers of the name hailed from one of these locations.

The earliest recorded instances of the Fishburn surname date back to the 13th century. In the Hundred Rolls of 1273, a John de Fisseburn is mentioned as residing in Yorkshire. The name also appears in the Subsidy Rolls for Yorkshire in 1301, where a Thomas de Fissheburn is listed.

Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals bearing the Fishburn surname. One of the earliest was Sir Richard Fishburn (c.1350-1420), a wealthy merchant and alderman from York who served as Lord Mayor of the city in 1392.

Another prominent figure was John Fishburn (1437-1501), an English cleric who served as the Archdeacon of Norfolk from 1486 until his death. He is mentioned in several ecclesiastical records from the period.

In the 17th century, there was Thomas Fishburn (1616-1688), an English mathematician and astronomer who published works on navigation and astronomy. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1663.

Moving into the 19th century, Robert Fishburn (1801-1877) was a notable English architect who designed several churches and public buildings in Yorkshire, including the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Beverley.

Finally, one of the more recent individuals with the Fishburn surname was John Fishburn (1909-1987), a British author and historian who wrote extensively on the history of Yorkshire and the English countryside.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Fishburn

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

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

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

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