The Bancroft surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 5,404 people carried this name — #6,315 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 54,600 people counted. That is up 1% from 5,335 in 2000.

See Bancroft on the map Look up another surname

Share

What the name means

The meaning of the Bancroft surname

A habitational surname from Old English.

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Bancroft» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.

As an English and Welsh surname

Bardsley classes it as a local name, from where the family lived: ‘of the bankcroft’.

From Charles W. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with Special American Instances (London: Henry Frowde, 1901), p. 76 · public domain.

Among the farmers of England and Wales, 1880s

Bancroft was found among the farmers of 3 counties.

It was most frequent in Cheshire: 11 in every 10,000 farmers there — about 1 in 909. Guppy counted the farmers listed in each county’s directory and recorded a name only where it reached about 7 in every 10,000; where it does not appear, it was rarer than that, not absent.

Where it concentrates, on the map

Per 10,000 farmers, by county

Cheshire 11
Yorkshire, West Riding 11
Derbyshire 6

H. B. Guppy, «Homes of Family Names in Great Britain» (London, 1890), alphabetical list of English and Welsh names — public domain · farmers in Kelly’s Post Office Directories of the 1880s, per 10,000 farmers in each county.

In the first U.S. census, 1790

59 families named Bancroft, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 398 people lived in those households, 6.7 to a family on average. The table counts it together with one other spelling. The table lists white heads of families only, in the twelve states whose 1790 records survive; Virginia’s figures come from state lists of 1782–1785.

Families, by state

Massachusetts 40
Connecticut 10
New Hampshire 7
Maine 1
Vermont 1

U.S. Census Bureau, «A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900» (Washington, 1909), table 111, p. 228 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.

In print

Bancroft in American newspapers,
1912–1923.

Newspaper page from Bisbee Daily Review carrying the name Bancroft
Bisbee Daily Review 1920-05-02
Newspaper page from The New York Herald carrying the name Bancroft
The New York Herald 1912-01-13
Newspaper page from Seward Daily Gateway carrying the name Bancroft
Seward Daily Gateway 1923-10-13

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain.

In print

Bancroft in Australian newspapers,
1840s–1990s.

15,189 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Bancroft. The most, 2,355, date from the 1930s. New South Wales has the most articles, but weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, the name stands out most in Queensland, at 1.4 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

New South Wales 4,902
Queensland 3,927
Victoria 2,292
South Australia 1,754
Western Australia 1,727
Tasmania 446
ACT (Canberra) 85
Northern Territory 14

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Bancroft.

Who carried it

People named Bancroft,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Richard Bancroft
    Richard Bancroft 1544–1610 · archbishop
  • John Bancroft
    John Bancroft 1574–1640 · Anglican priest
  • Susan Hubbell Bancroft d. 1920 · botanist
  • Thomas Bancroft d. 1636 · politician
  • Huldah Bancroft d. 1966 · university teacher
  • Blanche Bancroft d. 1931

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Bancroft,
in the records of 6 countries.

Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.

United States646 records

646 records of the Bancroft name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 171
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 119
  • Other U.S. records 356
  1. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record George D. Bancroft

    Born 1914 in New York. Enlisted 1943 at Astoria L I; filling station attendant from Columbia County. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1958, buried at Long Island National Cemetery, New York.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Sarah Bancroft

    Arrived at New York in 1904 aboard the Pennsylvania from Hamburg, aged 23; servant. From London, England; bound for Buffalo.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)
  3. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Philip Sean Bancroft

    Born 1949; from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. U.S. Marine Corps, rifleman; killed in action 1968 in Quang Nam, South Vietnam.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain)

Showing 3 of 646 records for Bancroft in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain) · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain).

Australia224 records

224 records of the Bancroft name in Australia
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 130
  • Queensland State Archives indexes 39
  • Other Australian records 55
  1. An 1829 etching of convicts being rowed out to the prison ship York in Portsmouth Harbour
    Pictured: convicts going on board a prison ship, 1829
    Transportation record Joseph Bancroft

    Transported to New South Wales aboard the Guildford, arriving 1824; ticket of leave 1833. Native of Leeds.

    Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY)
  2. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Lt Bancroft

    Arrived in Victoria in 1856 aboard the Oneida, aged 28; British subject.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A petition to the probate court of St. Louis, 1848
    Example: probate petition, 1848
    Probate record Richard K. Bancroft

    Hotelkeeper of Brighton, Victoria; died 1882.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 224 records for Bancroft in Australia.

Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY) · State Library of Western Australia (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Prison-ship in Portsmouth Harbour, with the convicts going on board, etching by Edward William Cooke, 1829, Royal Museums Greenwich (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain).

Canada124 records

124 records of the Bancroft name in Canada
  • Nova Scotia Archives name indexes 78
  • City of Winnipeg cemetery records 18
  • Other Canadian records 28
  1. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Alice Edna Bancroft

    Buried in 1962 at Queen's Park Cemetery, Calgary, Alberta, aged 77.

    City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary.
  2. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Death record John William Bancroft

    Died 1971 in Waterville, Pictou, Nova Scotia, aged 66.

    Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia.
  3. A Canadian First World War grave register card for a soldier who died of wounds in 1917
    Example: Canadian war grave register, 1917
    War record Ernest Walter Bancroft

    Died in service in 1944.

    Veterans Affairs Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada.

Showing 3 of 124 records for Bancroft in Canada.

Counts: Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. · City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg. · City of Vancouver. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. · City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. · Veterans Affairs Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0); Canadian First World War circumstances-of-death register (scan by Scottgraham87 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0).

United Kingdom14 records

14 records of the Bancroft name in the United Kingdom
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 12
  • Welsh wills index cards 2
  1. A petition to the probate court of St. Louis, 1848
    Example: probate petition, 1848
    Probate record Anne Bancroft

    Will proved in 1937; of Stockport, Chester.

    National Library of Wales, Wills Index Cards (CC0)
  2. A First World War roll of honour of the staff of C. & E. Morton Ltd
    Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919
    War record J. Bancroft

    Leicestershire Regiment. Listed among the dead in the War Office casualty list of 1917.

    National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain)
  3. A petition to the probate court of St. Louis, 1848
    Example: probate petition, 1848
    Probate record Helen Bancroft

    Will proved in 1936; of Stockport, Chester.

    National Library of Wales, Wills Index Cards (CC0)

Showing 3 of 14 records for Bancroft in the United Kingdom.

Counts: National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · National Library of Wales, Wills Index Cards (CC0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain); C. & E. Morton Ltd roll of honour, 1914–1919, photo by Adrian S Pye via Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0).

New Zealand3 records

3 records of the Bancroft name in New Zealand
  • Christchurch City cemetery records 2
  • Thames-Coromandel District cemetery records 1
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Valerie Jean Bancroft

    Died 1973, aged 52; buried at Memorial Park Cemetery, Christchurch, Canterbury.

    Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Isabel Ethel Bancroft

    Buried in 1958 at Shortland Cemetery, Thames-Coromandel District, Waikato, aged 76.

    Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Rita Violet Ivy Bancroft

    Died 1993, aged 86; buried at Memorial Park Cemetery, Christchurch, Canterbury.

    Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0)

Counts: Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0) · Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0).

Netherlands2 records

2 records of the Bancroft name in the Netherlands Dutch civil registers (births, marriages, deaths)
  1. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Kenneth Bancroft

    Married in 1948 in Velsen; farmer.

    Open Archives, Noord-Hollands Archief (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Edith Bancroft

    Married in 1948 in Breda.

    Open Archives, Brabants Historisch Informatie Centrum (CC BY 4.0)

Counts: Open Archives (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Marriage register, Tilburg, 1911, Regionaal Archief Tilburg (public domain).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Bancroft.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Bancroft is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

See the Bancroft volume
Scroll to Top