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

Swinney, 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 Swinney surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Swinney in America

Swinney is the 6909th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Swinney surname appeared 4,856 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 Swinney.

We can also compare 2010 data for Swinney 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 Swinney

The surname SWINNEY is an English toponymic surname derived from a place name meaning "swine pasture" or "pig meadow". It originates from the Old English words "swin" meaning swine or pig, and "ey" meaning an island or meadow. The earliest recorded spelling of the name is found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as "Swinei".

The name is believed to have originated in the county of Northamptonshire, where there are several places that may have given rise to the surname, such as Swinford, Swinnerton, and Swinstead. These place names all share the same root words as the surname SWINNEY.

One of the earliest recorded bearers of the surname was John Swinney, who was mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire in 1202. Another early record is that of William Swinney, who was listed in the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire in 1327.

In the 16th century, the surname appears to have been particularly concentrated in the counties of Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, and Staffordshire. Notable bearers from this period include Richard Swinney, who was born in Warwickshire in 1542, and Thomas Swinney, a merchant from Staffordshire who was born in 1578.

During the 17th century, the name began to spread more widely across England. One prominent individual was Sir John Swinney, a member of Parliament for the borough of Southwark, who was born in 1625 and died in 1697.

In the 18th century, a branch of the Swinney family established themselves in Scotland, where the name was sometimes spelled as "Swinnie". One notable Scottish bearer was Alexander Swinnie, a philosopher and professor at the University of Aberdeen, who was born in 1735 and died in 1803.

Other notable individuals with the surname SWINNEY throughout history include William Swinney, an English soldier who fought in the Napoleonic Wars and was awarded the Waterloo Medal, born in 1793; and George Swinney, a British explorer and naturalist who traveled extensively in South America in the late 19th century, born in 1859 and died in 1912.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Swinney

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

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

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

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