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

Lyall, 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 Lyall surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Lyall in America

Lyall is the 18648th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lyall surname appeared 1,475 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 Lyall.

We can also compare 2010 data for Lyall 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 Lyall

The surname Lyall originated in Scotland, and it is believed to have first appeared in the late 12th or early 13th century. It is derived from the Old Norse word "líð," which means "a slope" or "a hillside." This suggests that the name may have been given to someone who lived on or near a hillside.

The earliest known record of the name dates back to the 13th century, when a person named William de Lydale was mentioned in the Ragman Rolls of 1296. The Ragman Rolls were a series of documents that recorded the names of Scottish nobles and landowners who swore fealty to King Edward I of England.

In the 14th century, a variant spelling of the name, "Liddel," appeared in the records of the Abbey of Melrose in Scotland. This spelling may have been influenced by the River Liddel, which flows through the Scottish Borders.

One of the earliest notable individuals with the surname Lyall was John Lyall, who was born in Edinburgh in the late 15th century. He served as a merchant and burgess (a member of the merchant class) in the city.

Another notable bearer of the name was Sir Charles Lyall, who lived from 1782 to 1857. He was a Scottish lawyer and politician who served as Lord Advocate of Scotland, the highest legal officer in the country, from 1834 to 1835.

In the 19th century, Alfred Comyn Lyall (1835-1911) was a British civil servant and literary figure who served as Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces of British India from 1882 to 1887. He was also a respected author and poet, known for his works on Indian culture and history.

Sir James Muir Lyall (1871-1949) was a Scottish architect who designed several notable buildings in Glasgow, including the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and the St. Andrew's Halls.

Another prominent figure with the surname Lyall was Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Lyall (1857-1936), a British civil servant and administrator who served as Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh from 1901 to 1905.

While the surname Lyall has its roots in Scotland, it has since spread to other parts of the world, including England, Ireland, and North America, due to migration and settlement patterns over the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lyall

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

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

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

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