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

Tibbetts, 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 Tibbetts surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Tibbetts in America

Tibbetts is the 5327th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Tibbetts surname appeared 6,538 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 Tibbetts.

We can also compare 2010 data for Tibbetts 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 Tibbetts

The surname Tibbetts has its origins in England and can be traced back to the 12th century. It is a locational surname derived from various places named Tibbet or Tibbets, which stem from the Old English personal name Tibbet or Tybbet, a diminutive of the name Theobald.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname appears in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire in 1201, where a John Tibbets is mentioned. The surname is also found in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire in 1273, where it is spelled as Tybetot.

The Tibbetts name is linked to several place names in England, such as Tibberton in Gloucestershire and Tibberton in Shropshire. These place names are derived from the Old English words "tib" meaning "a little bit" and "tun" meaning "an enclosure or homestead."

In the Domesday Book of 1086, a Norman landowner named Teodbaldus is recorded as holding lands in various counties, including Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. It is possible that the Tibbetts surname may have evolved from this Norman name.

Notable individuals with the surname Tibbetts throughout history include:

1. John Tibbetts (c. 1580 – c. 1640), an English colonist who settled in what is now New Hampshire, USA, in the early 17th century.
2. Thomas Tibbetts (1777 – 1837), an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from New Hampshire.
3. George Tibbetts (1763 – 1849), an American soldier who fought in the Revolutionary War and later became a prominent landowner in Ohio.
4. Sir Walter Tibbetts (1909 – 1988), a British diplomat and colonial administrator who served as the Governor of Malta from 1962 to 1964.
5. John Tibbetts (1722 – 1786), an English clergyman and author who wrote several works on theology and church history.

While the surname Tibbetts has its roots in England, it has since spread to other parts of the world, particularly to the United States, Canada, and Australia, through migration and colonization.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Tibbetts

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

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

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

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