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

Scarborough, 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 Scarborough surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Scarborough in America

Scarborough is the 2925th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Scarborough surname appeared 12,252 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Scarborough.

We can also compare 2010 data for Scarborough 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 Scarborough

The surname Scarborough originated in England during the Anglo-Saxon period, deriving from the town of Scarborough in North Yorkshire. The name is believed to come from the Old Norse words 'sker' meaning a long rock or cliff, and 'burg' meaning a fortified place or town, referring to the town's location on a headland overlooking the North Sea.

One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Scarborough can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is spelled 'Scardeburg'. This entry refers to the town itself and suggests the name was already well-established by the late 11th century.

In the 13th century, records show a John de Scardeburgh, who was a prominent ecclesiastic and served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1245 to 1248. This early use of the surname suggests it had already been adopted by some families by this time.

During the 14th century, the name appears in various forms such as Scardeburg, Scardeburghe, and Scareburgh. One notable bearer was Sir John Scarborough (c.1310-1374), a wealthy landowner and member of the gentry from Yorkshire.

In the 16th century, the spelling of the surname became more standardized as Scarborough. Sir Charles Scarborough (1616-1694) was a prominent English mathematician, physician, and philosopher who served as the principal physician to King Charles II and King James II.

Other notable individuals with the surname Scarborough include Robert Scarborough (c.1635-1694), an English explorer and colonial official who served as the first governor of East New Jersey; Sir Robert Scarborough (1753-1833), a British naval officer who served in the American Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars; and Dorothy Scarborough (1878-1935), an American writer and literary critic from Texas.

While the surname Scarborough remains most prevalent in England, particularly in the Yorkshire region, it has also been carried to other parts of the world through migration and diaspora over the centuries, becoming well-established in countries like the United States, Canada, and Australia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Scarborough

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

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

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