The Child surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 5,237 people carried this name — #6,483 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 56,200 people counted. That is up 10% from 4,750 in 2000.

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What the name means

The meaning of the Child surname

As an English and Welsh surname

Bardsley explains it as ‘the child’.

An early record he cites: Brian le Child, Cambridgeshire, 1273 — Hundred Rolls.

His entry covers Child, Childe, Childs and Chiles.

From Charles W. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with Special American Instances (London: Henry Frowde, 1901), p. 177 · public domain.

Among the farmers of England and Wales, 1880s

Child was found among the farmers of 2 counties.

It was most frequent in Shropshire: 10 in every 10,000 farmers there — about 1 in 1,000. 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. His list gives one count for the spellings Child and Childe.

Where it concentrates, on the map

Per 10,000 farmers, by county

Shropshire 10
Sussex 9

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

In 1790, Child was counted together with Childs: 226 families in all.

Each family is counted by its head. About 1,336 people lived in those households, 5.9 to a family on average. The census counted these spellings together: Childs, Child, Childes, Chiles. 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 93
Connecticut 30
Pennsylvania 18
Vermont 16
Rhode Island 15
New York 12
South Carolina 10
Maryland 8
Maine 7
Virginia 6
North Carolina 6
New Hampshire 5

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. 234 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.

In print

Child in American newspapers,
1891–1893.

Newspaper page from The Helena Independent carrying the name Child
The Helena Independent 1893-10-15
Newspaper page from The Helena Independent carrying the name Child
The Helena Independent 1891-02-16
Newspaper page from St. Landry Democrat carrying the name Child
St. Landry Democrat 1893-03-04

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 19,697 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Child in Australian newspapers,
1820s–2000s.

43,933 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Child. The most, 6,537, date from the 1880s.

Articles, by state

New South Wales 15,346
Victoria 10,943
Queensland 6,908
South Australia 4,951
Tasmania 2,740
Western Australia 2,573
ACT (Canberra) 360
Northern Territory 36

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

Who carried it

People named Child,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Simeon P. Child d. 1912 · politician
  • Thomas Child d. 1706 · painter
  • William Child d. 1398 · politician
  • Thomas Child d. 1413 · politician
  • Laurence Child d. 1390 · Catholic priest
  • Elizabeth Child d. 1719

Wikidata (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Child.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Child 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 Child volume
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