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

Swepson, 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 Swepson surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Swepson in America

Swepson is the 85049th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Swepson surname appeared 220 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Swepson.

We can also compare 2010 data for Swepson 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 Swepson

The surname Swepson is of English origin, emerging during the late medieval period. It is thought to have derived from the Old English words "swepan" meaning to sweep, and "sunu" meaning son. The earliest known spelling variations include Swepesone, Sweapsone, and Swepessone. This suggests the name likely referred to someone whose occupation was sweeping or perhaps the son of a sweeper.

Historical records indicate the name was particularly concentrated in the counties of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire during the 13th and 14th centuries. One of the earliest known references is found in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273, which lists a Richard Swepessone from Yorkshire. The Swepson name also appears in several Tudor-era tax and parish records from the 16th century in villages around Lincoln.

An early notable bearer was John Swepson (c.1490-1557), an English Catholic priest who served as the rector of St. Mary's Church in Nottinghamshire during the tumultuous years of the English Reformation. He remained loyal to the old faith and was briefly imprisoned for his refusal to accept the new Anglican liturgy.

Later examples include Robert Swepson (1619-1688), a prosperous merchant and landowner from Lincolnshire who served as the High Sheriff of the county in 1665. His descendant, William Swepson (1722-1803) was a noted horticulturalist who introduced several new fruit cultivars in England during the 18th century.

Another line of the family produced Samuel Swepson (1815-1876), a Yorkshire industrialist who owned several textile mills and factories in the West Riding during the Victorian era. His son, Arthur Swepson (1850-1924) was a philanthropist who endowed schools and orphanages in their hometown.

The name remains relatively uncommon today, reflecting its fairly localized origins, but examples can still be found concentrated in parts of northern England where the surname first took root centuries ago.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Swepson

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

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

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