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Victorian Children and Life in Victorian Times

A comprehensive Victorian Children history guide with facts and information on how the Victorian times impacted children in work, play, education and home life.
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Victorian Last Names

Around the 12th or 13th Century it became common for surnames (last names) to be passed down the family line.

By the Victorian era they were another way to navigate the class system as working class people were often named based on a family profession and the aristocracy would have last names similar to those of the royal families.

Biblical Victorian surnames

Biblical names were quite popular in the Victorian era and names were borrowed from the New Testament and the Old Testament. Some aristocrats sought inspiration from the Bible to create new names for their families.

Other new surnames were created during the Victorian era. There were various reasons and one of them being migration.

The Victorian Britains had migrated to the United States, Ireland, Asia and the Caribbean which meant that new names were created based upon the new languages and places they had set up home in.

Victorian Surnames originating from a profession

Most working class people had surnames that originated from their families profession or trade.

For example Smith (Blacksmith), Carpenter, Cooper, Dyer, Taylor (Tailor), Fisher, Thatcher, Wright and Weaver.

Try the Victorian Name Generator

Common Victorian English Last Names

In 1853, these were the top 50 most popular surnames (Around 18% of the population)

AllenDavisJacksonMorrisThompson
BakerEdwardsJamesParkerTurner
BennettEvansJohnsonPhillipsWalker
BrownGreenJonesPriceWard
CarterGriffithsKingRobertsWatson
ClarkHallLeeRobinsonWhite
ClarkeHarrisLewisShawWilliams
CookHarrisonMartinSmithWilson
CooperHillMooreTaylorWood
DaviesHughesMorganThomasWright

The Most Popular Victorian Surnames (Ranked)

These were the most popular last names in 1837-1853.

PopularitySurname
1Smith
2Jones
3Williams
4Taylor
5Davies
6Brown
7Thomas
8Evans
9Roberts
10Johnson
11Robinson
12Wilson
13Wright
14Wood
15Hall
16Walker
17Hughes
18Green
19Lewis
20Edwards
21Thompson
22White
23Jackson
24Turner
25Hill
26Harris
27Clark
28Cooper
29Harrison
30Davis
31Ward
32Baker
33Martin
34Morris
35James
36Morgan
37King
38Allen
39Clarke
40Cook
41Moore
42Parker
43Price
44Phillips
45Watson
46Shaw
47Lee
48Bennett
49Carter
50Griffiths

Link / Cite this Page

  • <a href="https://victorianchildren.org/victorian-last-names/">Victorian Last Names</a>

  • Stewart, Suzy. "Victorian Last Names". Victorian Children. Accessed on March 20, 2023. https://victorianchildren.org/victorian-last-names/.

  • Stewart, Suzy. "Victorian Last Names". Victorian Children, https://victorianchildren.org/victorian-last-names/. Accessed 20 March, 2023.

  • Stewart, Suzy. Victorian Last Names. Victorian Children. Retrieved from https://victorianchildren.org/victorian-last-names/.

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