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

Laffoon, 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 Laffoon surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Laffoon in America

Laffoon is the 18354th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Laffoon surname appeared 1,509 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 Laffoon.

We can also compare 2010 data for Laffoon 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 Laffoon

The surname Laffoon is an English locational surname that originated in the Middle Ages. It derives from the old English words 'laf' meaning 'remnant' or 'remainder' and 'dun' meaning 'hill'. Laffoon refers to someone who lived near a small hill or minor elevation.

The earliest known records of the Laffoon surname date back to the late 13th century in the county of Gloucestershire in southwest England. In 1296, a Richard de Laffdun was listed in tax rolls from the village of Minchinhampton. The name evolved over time with spellings like Laffdon, Laffeden, and Laffedun appearing in old parish records.

One of the earliest documented individuals with this surname was John Laffoon, born around 1420 in the village of Avening in Gloucestershire. He was a farmer who leased land from the local lord. In 1489, a Thomas Laffoon was recorded as a merchant trading wool and cloth from the town of Stroud.

The Laffoon name spread gradually across England in the following centuries. By the 1600s, there were Laffoon families living in counties like Somerset, Wiltshire, and Dorset. A notable bearer was William Laffoon (1595-1672), a tradesman and landowner from Bristol who served as a city alderman.

During the English Civil War in the 1640s, a Captain Richard Laffoon (1610-1679) from Warwickshire fought for the Parliamentarian forces against King Charles I. After the war, he acquired lands in Staffordshire as payment for his military service.

As the British Empire expanded, the Laffoon surname traveled to far-flung colonies. In 1755, brothers Edward (1732-1801) and James Laffoon (1735-1819) emigrated from Dorset to Virginia. Both fought in the American Revolutionary War, with Edward achieving the rank of colonel in the Continental Army.

Other notable individuals with this surname include the English novelist Mary Laffoon (1827-1903), known for her regional fiction set in the West Country. American politician Hubert Laffoon (1872-1948) served as the Governor of Kentucky from 1931 to 1935 during the Great Depression.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Laffoon

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

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

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

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