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

Pillar, 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 Pillar surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Pillar in America

Pillar is the 16481st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Pillar surname appeared 1,743 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 Pillar.

We can also compare 2010 data for Pillar 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 Pillar

The surname Pillar has its origins in medieval England, dating back to the 12th century. It is derived from the Old English words "pil" and "hir," meaning "stone" and "wood" respectively. The name likely referred to someone who lived near a stone or wooden pillar, or perhaps someone who worked with such materials.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Pillar can be found in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire from 1198, where a man named William Pillar is mentioned as a landowner. The Pipe Rolls were financial records kept by the English Exchequer during this period.

In the 13th century, the name appears in the Hundred Rolls of 1273, which were administrative records compiled for King Edward I. These rolls mention a John Pillar from Oxfordshire, and a Robert Pillar from Cambridgeshire.

The Domesday Book, a famous survey commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086, does not contain any direct references to the surname Pillar. However, it does mention several place names that may have influenced the development of the surname, such as Pille in Wiltshire and Pillerton in Warwickshire.

One notable bearer of the Pillar surname was Sir William Pillar (c. 1395-1467), a member of the English gentry who served as a Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire during the Wars of the Roses. Another was John Pillar (c. 1510-1564), a merchant and explorer from Bristol who is credited with being one of the first Englishmen to visit Russia.

In the 16th century, the name was sometimes spelled as Pyler or Piler, as evidenced by records from the parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate in London, which mention a Thomas Piler in 1587.

Other notable individuals with the surname Pillar include Roger Pillar (c. 1620-1698), a Puritan minister from Massachusetts, and Elizabeth Pillar (c. 1665-1736), a writer and poet from London who published several works under the pseudonym "Ariadne."

By the 18th century, variations of the name such as Pillars and Pillars had emerged, reflecting the pluralization of the surname. One example is William Pillars (c. 1770-1848), a Scottish minister and author who wrote extensively on theological subjects.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Pillar

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

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

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

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