The Gunn surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 23,524 people carried this name — #1,525 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 12,500 people counted. That is up 6% from 22,120 in 2000.

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What the name means

The meaning of the Gunn surname

A Scottish surname from Old Norse.

From Old Norse Gunnr.

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Gunn» (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 baptismal name, from a given name: ‘the son of Gawen’.

An early record he cites: Matilda fil. Gunne, Cambridgeshire, 1273 — Hundred Rolls. Fil. is Latin for “son of”.

His entry covers Gunn, Gunson, Gunns and Gunnis.

From Charles W. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with Special American Instances (London: Henry Frowde, 1901), p. 343 · public domain.

In Ireland’s birth registers, 1890

Ireland registered 9 births for the Gunn name in 1890.

Most were registered in Ulster. By the Registrar-General’s own method — births multiplied by 44.38 — that is about 400 people bearing the name in Ireland at the time.

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they were born, 1890

Ulster 5
Leinster 4

Registrar-General for Ireland, «Special Report on Surnames in Ireland» (R. E. Matheson, 1894), births index of 1890 — public domain.

In Argentina’s national register

At least 50 people named Gunn live in Argentina.

RENAPER only publishes a name in a province when more than ten people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Misiones.

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they live today

Misiones 25
Santa Cruz 13
Buenos Aires Province 12

RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.

In the Nordic population registers

122 people named Gunn are counted in Sweden and Finland.

Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published. Finland counts its citizens, at home or abroad.

Counted, by country

Sweden (2022) 79
Finland (2026) 43

Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown) · Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV), Finland, surname statistics, August 2026 — CC BY 4.0.

Among the farmers of England and Wales, 1880s

Gunn was found among the farmers of Nottinghamshire: 12 in every 10,000.

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.

Where it concentrates, on the map

Per 10,000 farmers, by county

Nottinghamshire 12

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 Scotland’s registers today

Gunn was recorded 93 times in Scotland’s registers of births, marriages and deaths in 2025.

That made it the 275th most common name in those registers, shared with others on the same count. In 1975, the first year of the series, the count was 145. Each birth counts the child’s surname, each marriage both partners’ and each death the surname of the person who died — a yearly count of registrations, not of the people who live in Scotland.

National Records of Scotland, «Most Common Surnames, 2025» (published 26 May 2026): every surname recorded 10 or more times in the 2025 registers, and the series from 1975 · different spellings are counted separately — © Crown copyright 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

In the first U.S. census, 1790

83 families named Gunn, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 455 people lived in those households, 5.5 to a family on average. The table counts it together with 3 other spellings. 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 23
Connecticut 21
Pennsylvania 10
Virginia 7
North Carolina 7
Maryland 4
South Carolina 4
New Hampshire 3
New York 3
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. 243 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.

In print

Gunn in American newspapers,
1906–1923.

Newspaper page from The Citizen carrying the name Gunn
The Citizen 1913-08-05
Newspaper page from The White Pine News carrying the name Gunn
The White Pine News 1906-12-25
Newspaper page from Daily Kennebec Journal carrying the name Gunn
Daily Kennebec Journal 1923-07-24

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 4,032 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Gunn in Australian newspapers,
1820s–2010s.

106,625 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Gunn. The most, 22,497, date from the 1920s. Victoria 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 Tasmania, at 2.0 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

Victoria 26,062
Queensland 21,843
South Australia 20,525
New South Wales 19,017
Tasmania 13,587
Western Australia 4,492
ACT (Canberra) 767
Northern Territory 220

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

Who carried it

People named Gunn,
with a public archive behind them.

  • John C. Gunn
    John C. Gunn d. 1863 · writer
  • Elizabeth Jane Gunn d. 1918
  • Pauline Celia Gunn d. 2006
  • Alexander Gunn d. 1765
  • John Gunn d. 1810
  • Donald Gunn d. 1861

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 Gunn,
in the records of 8 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 States2,877 records

2,877 records of the Gunn name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 854
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 630
  • Other U.S. records 1,393
  1. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Joe C. Gunn

    Born 1914 in Oklahoma. Enlisted 1942 at Tulsa; clerk from Cleveland County. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1989, buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, Texas.

    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 Josefa Gunn

    Arrived at New York in 1897 aboard the Aragonia from Stettin, aged 20; servant. From Galicia; bound for New York.

    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 Terry Sidney Gunn

    Born 1948; from Mobile, Alabama. U.S. Army, indirect fire infantryman; killed in action 1966 in South Vietnam.

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

Showing 3 of 2,877 records for Gunn 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. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · 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) · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain) · New York State, Open NY (police and firefighter memorial rolls). 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).

Australia2,619 records

2,619 records of the Gunn name in Australia
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 1,283
  • Victoria wills and probate, deaths to 2001 492
  • Other Australian records 844
  1. A petition to the probate court of St. Louis, 1848
    Example: probate petition, 1848
    Probate record John Gunn

    Died 1897 in Launceston, Tasmania, aged 56. Will registered in Tasmania in 1897.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  2. 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 Alexander Gunn

    Transported to New South Wales aboard the York, arriving 1831; ticket of leave 1837. Native of Edinburgh.

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

    Arrived in Victoria in 1858 aboard the Shooting Star, aged 2; English.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 2,619 records for Gunn in Australia.

Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0) · Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · City of Ballarat, Avenue of Honour Plaques (CC BY 3.0 AU) · ACT Government, Transport Canberra and City Services (CC BY 4.0) · State Library of Western Australia (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain); 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).

Canada740 records

740 records of the Gunn name in Canada
  • Nova Scotia Archives name indexes 548
  • Canadian Virtual War Memorial 47
  • Other Canadian records 145
  1. The first page of an emigration file from Gündlingen, Baden, 1883
    Example: German emigration file, 1883
    Emigration record Tom Gunn

    Left New York in 1783 aboard the Three Friends, bound for River St Johns, aged 43.

    Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia.
  2. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Wm Gunn

    Came to Ontario in 1881 aboard the Sardinian, landing at Quebec, bound for Woodstock, Ontario; English.

    Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario.
  3. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Cecilia R. Gunn

    Died 1944, aged 51; buried at St. Vital Cemetery, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

    City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg.

Showing 3 of 740 records for Gunn in Canada.

Counts: Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. · Veterans Affairs Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. · 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. · City of Niagara Falls. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Niagara Falls. · Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · Halifax Regional Municipality. Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Emigration file, Gündlingen, 1883, Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Staatsarchiv Freiburg B 694/1 Nr. 1389 (CC BY 4.0); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0).

United Kingdom113 records

113 records of the Gunn name in the United Kingdom
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 50
  • Scottish rolls of honour, First World War 31
  • Other British records 32
  1. A First World War roll of honour of the staff of C. & E. Morton Ltd
    Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919
    War record Hector MacKay Gunn

    Born 1895 at Farr. Served in the First World War. Named in the University of Aberdeen roll of service in the Great War, 1914-1919.

    National Library of Scotland, Rolls of Honour (public domain)
  2. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Mary Ann Gunn

    Buried in 1928 at Ballengeich Cemetery, Stirling, Scotland, aged 76.

    Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
  3. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Mary Gunn

    Buried in 1853 at St James's burial ground, Euston, London, aged 72.

    MOLA and HS2, St James's burial ground data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Showing 3 of 113 records for Gunn in the United Kingdom.

Counts: National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · National Library of Scotland, Rolls of Honour (public domain) · Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. · MOLA and HS2, St James's burial ground data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: C. & E. Morton Ltd roll of honour, 1914–1919, photo by Adrian S Pye via Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0); Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0).

New Zealand70 records

70 records of the Gunn name in New Zealand
  • Christchurch City cemetery records 58
  • Marlborough District cemetery records 6
  • Other New Zealand records 6
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record James William Gunn

    Died 1979, aged 47; buried at Ruru Lawn, 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 Thomas Percy Gunn

    Died 1976, aged 84; buried at Havelock Cemetery, Marlborough.

    Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A page of the Livre d’or of the French war dead, Paris
    Example: roll of the war dead
    War record R. Gunn

    New Zealand Infantry. Listed among the dead in the War Office casualty list of 1917.

    National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain)

Showing 3 of 70 records for Gunn in New Zealand.

Counts: Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0) · Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0) · Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0); Livre d’or of the war dead, Paris, Ministère des pensions, Archives nationales (CC0).

Netherlands11 records

11 records of the Gunn name in the Netherlands
  • Dutch population registers 8
  • Dutch civil registers (births, marriages, deaths) 3
  1. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Death record Otto Gunn

    Died 1940 in 's-Gravenhage, aged 53.

    Open Archives, Haags Gemeentearchief (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record George Gunn

    Married in 1946 in 's-Hertogenbosch.

    Open Archives, Brabants Historisch Informatie Centrum (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A page of the 1910 United States census, Milwaukee
    Example: U.S. census, 1910
    Population register Geert Gunn

    In the population register of Norg; born 1851.

    Open Archives, Drents Archief (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 11 records for Gunn in the Netherlands.

Counts: Open Archives (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0); Marriage register, Tilburg, 1911, Regionaal Archief Tilburg (public domain); U.S. census of 1910, Milwaukee (public domain).

France2 records

2 records of the Gunn name in France France's national death register, 1970–2001
  1. A page of the death register of Nice, 1930
    Example: French death register, 1930
    Death record Peter Nicholson Gunn

    Born 1914 in Australia; died 1995 in Arques-la-Bataille (Seine-Maritime).

    Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)
  2. A page of the death register of Nice, 1930
    Example: French death register, 1930
    Death record Elsa Jean Gunn

    Born 1918 in the United Kingdom; died 1991 in Paris.

    Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)

Counts: Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Death register of Nice, 1930, Archives départementales des Alpes-Maritimes (public domain).

Finland1 record

1 record of the Gunn name in Finland Finland's war dead, 1914–1922
  1. A page of the Livre d’or of the French war dead, Paris
    Example: roll of the war dead
    War record Johannes Henriksson Gunn

    Born 1864; carpenter. Died in 1918 in Helsinki, one of the dead of Finland's wars of 1914–1922.

    Kansallisarkisto, via Sotasurmasampo (CC BY 4.0)

Counts: Kansallisarkisto, via Sotasurmasampo (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Livre d’or of the war dead, Paris, Ministère des pensions, Archives nationales (CC0).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Gunn.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Gunn 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.

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