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

Lawing, 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 Lawing surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Lawing in America

Lawing is the 13525th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lawing surname appeared 2,243 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 Lawing.

We can also compare 2010 data for Lawing 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 Lawing

The surname Lawing is thought to have originated in the Scottish Lowlands in the late 13th century. It is believed to be a variant of the more common Scottish surname Laing, derived from the Old English word "lang" meaning "long" or "tall."

The earliest known record of the Lawing name appears in the Ragman Rolls of 1296, a historical document recording the swearing of fealty to King Edward I of England by Scottish nobility and gentry. This suggests that the name was already established in Scotland by the late 13th century.

In the 16th century, the Lawing surname is found in various records from the Scottish Borders region, particularly around the town of Jedburgh. One notable early bearer of the name was John Lawing, who was recorded as a landowner in Jedburgh in 1523.

The Lawing name is also associated with the parish of Lawers in Perthshire, Scotland. It is possible that some bearers of the name may have derived their surname from this place name, which itself likely originated from a Gaelic term meaning "hillside" or "slope."

Among notable historical figures with the Lawing surname, there is James Lawing, a Scottish soldier who fought in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms during the 17th century. He was born in Jedburgh in 1611 and served in the Royalist army during the English Civil War.

Another significant bearer of the Lawing name was Robert Lawing, a Scottish minister and theologian born in Perthshire in 1685. He served as the minister of the parish of Abernethy from 1715 until his death in 1758.

In the 18th century, the Lawing surname also appears in records from the Scottish Highlands, particularly in the region of Argyll. One notable individual was Donald Lawing, a Highland chieftain born in 1734, who played a role in the Jacobite risings of the mid-18th century.

The Lawing name has also been found in historical records from other parts of the British Isles, including England and Ireland, likely due to migration and intermarriage over the centuries. However, its origins and earliest known bearers can be traced back to Scotland in the late medieval period.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lawing

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Lawing, 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!