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

Neilson, 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 Neilson surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Neilson in America

Neilson is the 5319th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Neilson surname appeared 6,553 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Neilson.

We can also compare 2010 data for Neilson 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 Neilson

The surname Neilson has its origins in Scotland, dating back to the 13th century. It is a patronymic name derived from the personal name Neil, which is a Scottish form of the Gaelic name Niall, meaning "champion" or "cloud." The suffix "-son" indicates "son of."

The earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland from the late 13th century, where individuals with the name Neilson are mentioned. These rolls were records of financial transactions and taxes paid to the Scottish Crown.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was John Neilson, a Scottish landowner and nobleman who lived in the late 14th century. He was recorded as owning lands in the county of Ayrshire, which suggests that the name may have originated in that region.

In the 16th century, the name Neilson appears in the records of the Scottish Parliament, where several individuals with this surname are mentioned as representatives from various shires and burghs.

A notable bearer of the name was Samuel Neilson (1761-1803), an Irish Presbyterian minister and political activist who was a leading figure in the Society of United Irishmen, a revolutionary republican movement in the late 18th century.

Another prominent individual was John Neilson (1776-1848), a Canadian newspaper publisher and journalist who founded the Quebec Gazette, one of the oldest continuously published newspapers in North America.

In the 19th century, James Beaumont Neilson (1792-1865) was a Scottish engineer and inventor who developed the hot blast process for smelting iron, which significantly increased the efficiency of blast furnaces and revolutionized the iron industry.

Further instances of the name can be found in various historical records and documents, such as court records, parish registers, and census records, across Scotland and other parts of the United Kingdom, as well as in areas where Scottish immigrants settled, such as North America and Australia.

The surname Neilson has also been subject to various spelling variations over time, including Neilson, Nielson, Nelson, and Nilson, among others, reflecting regional differences in pronunciation and spelling conventions.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Neilson

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

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

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

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