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

Greenhalgh, 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 Greenhalgh surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Greenhalgh in America

Greenhalgh is the 12227th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Greenhalgh surname appeared 2,546 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 Greenhalgh.

We can also compare 2010 data for Greenhalgh 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 Greenhalgh

The surname Greenhalgh originates from the areas around Lancashire and Yorkshire in England, dating back to the late 12th century. It is derived from the Old English words 'grene' meaning green and 'haulgh' referring to a meadow or valley, thus describing a person who lived in a green meadow or valley.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Lancashire Inquests of 1310-1333, where it appears as 'de Grenehulgh'. Similar spellings such as 'de Grenhalgh' and 'de Grenehalgh' are also found in various records from the 13th and 14th centuries.

The Greenhalgh surname is believed to have originated from the town of Greenhalgh near Kirkham in Lancashire, which was first documented in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Grenehol'. This place name likely gave rise to the surname as people began to adopt locational surnames.

In the 16th century, a notable figure with this surname was Thomas Greenhalgh (c.1525-1594), an English Catholic priest who was imprisoned for his religious beliefs during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Another prominent individual was James Greenhalgh (1597-1651), a Member of Parliament for Lancashire during the English Civil War.

During the 17th century, Richard Greenhalgh (1632-1694) was a renowned English physician and author of several medical texts. In the 18th century, John Greenhalgh (1717-1796) was a successful merchant and land owner in Liverpool.

In more recent history, William Greenhalgh (1840-1909) was a prominent English industrialist and philanthropist who helped establish various educational institutions in the town of Wigan.

The Greenhalgh surname has also been found in various parts of the world, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, likely due to immigration from England over the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Greenhalgh

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

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

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

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