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

Upshur, 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 Upshur surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Upshur in America

Upshur is the 25620th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Upshur surname appeared 963 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 Upshur.

We can also compare 2010 data for Upshur 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 Upshur

The surname "UPSHUR" originated in England during the early medieval period, likely in the 12th or 13th century. It is believed to be derived from the Old English words "up" and "scir," meaning "upper shire" or "upper district." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who lived in an area considered the upper part of a particular shire or county.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Feet of Fines for Essex, a legal record from 1285, which mentions a person named Richard de Upshure. The name also appears in various other historical documents from that time period, such as the Hundred Rolls of 1273, which lists a John de Upshuyre.

In the 14th century, the name is recorded with a variety of spellings, including Upshere, Upshire, and Upshyre, reflecting the evolving nature of English orthography at the time. One notable bearer of the name during this period was William de Upshyre, who served as a member of Parliament for Lincolnshire in 1337.

As the name spread throughout England, it became associated with certain place names, such as Upshire in Essex and Upshire Hall in Waltham Abbey, both of which likely derived their names from the surname itself.

In the 16th century, the Upshur family became prominent landowners in the county of Buckinghamshire. One of the most notable members of the family was George Upshur, who lived from 1557 to 1623 and served as a member of Parliament for Aylesbury.

During the colonial era, the Upshur name made its way to America, with several members of the family settling in Virginia. One of the earliest and most prominent American Upshurs was Littleton Upshur, born in 1766, who served as a distinguished lawyer, judge, and United States Secretary of State under President John Tyler.

Other notable individuals with the Upshur surname include Abel Parker Upshur (1790-1844), who served as the 14th United States Secretary of State and was killed in an explosion aboard the USS Princeton; John Upshur (1823-1917), a Confederate officer during the American Civil War; and George Pearson Upshur (1828-1886), a prominent jurist and legal scholar in Virginia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Upshur

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

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

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