The Kirkpatrick surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 26,251 people carried this name — #1,344 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 11,200 people counted. About the same as in 2000 (26,155).

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What the name means

The meaning of the Kirkpatrick surname

From the surname elements Kirk (from church) and Patrick (from Saint Patrick).

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Kirkpatrick» (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 Kirkpatrick’.

From Charles W. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with Special American Instances (London: Henry Frowde, 1901), p. 456 · public domain.

In Ireland’s birth registers, 1890

Ireland registered 25 births for the Kirkpatrick name in 1890.

Most were registered in Ulster. By the Registrar-General’s own method — births multiplied by 44.38 — that is about 1,100 people bearing the name in Ireland at the time. The Registrar-General’s note on the name: “16 in Antrim.”

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

Where they were born, 1890

Ulster 22
Connacht 2
Munster 1

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

In Scotland, 1880s

Kirkpatrick was 10 in every 10,000 names in Scotland.

That is about 1 in 1,000. Its home there, in Guppy’s words: “Dumfriesshire.” He counted the more than 20,000 names in Halliburton’s County Directory of Scotland, taking Scotland as a whole, and listed only the names that reached 10 in every 10,000.

H. B. Guppy, «Homes of Family Names in Great Britain» (London, 1890), appendix: alphabetical list of the most frequent Scottish names, p. 591 — public domain · names in Halliburton’s County Directory of Scotland, per 10,000 for the whole country.

In Scotland’s registers today

Kirkpatrick was recorded 42 times in Scotland’s registers of births, marriages and deaths in 2025.

That made it the 622nd most common name in those registers, shared with others on the same count. In 1975, the first year of the series, the count was 91. 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

48 families named Kirkpatrick, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 246 people lived in those households, 5.1 to a family on average. The table counts it together with 4 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

Pennsylvania 22
North Carolina 7
South Carolina 6
New York 4
Virginia 4
Maryland 3
Maine 2

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

In print

Kirkpatrick in American newspapers,
1887–1926.

Newspaper page from The Comet carrying the name Kirkpatrick
The Comet 1887-10-13
Newspaper page from Sequachee Valley News carrying the name Kirkpatrick
Sequachee Valley News 1910-08-11
Newspaper page from Evening Star carrying the name Kirkpatrick
Evening Star 1926-10-27

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 146,389 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Kirkpatrick in Australian newspapers,
1830s–1990s.

28,384 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Kirkpatrick. The most, 6,555, date from the 1900s. 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 South Australia, at 1.8 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

New South Wales 8,330
South Australia 6,232
Victoria 5,572
Queensland 5,272
Western Australia 1,729
Tasmania 853
ACT (Canberra) 318
Northern Territory 36

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

Who carried it

People named Kirkpatrick,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Andrew Kirkpatrick
    Andrew Kirkpatrick 1756–1831 · judge
  • William Kirkpatrick
    William Kirkpatrick 1769–1832 · politician
  • María Manuela Kirkpatrick
    María Manuela Kirkpatrick 1794–1879 · courtier
  • Littleton Kirkpatrick
    Littleton Kirkpatrick 1797–1859 · judge
  • William J. Kirkpatrick
    William J. Kirkpatrick 1838–1921 · composer

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 342 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Kirkpatrick,
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 States2,573 records

2,573 records of the Kirkpatrick name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 1,046
  • U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 417
  • Other U.S. records 1,110
  1. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Melvin Kirkpatrick

    Born 1907 in Mississippi. Enlisted 1940 at Ocean Springs; store manager from Harrison County. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1984, buried at Biloxi National Cemetery, Mississippi.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Eldon John Kirkpatrick

    Born 1947; from Ashland, Ohio. U.S. Army, infantryman; killed in action 1968 in Quang Tin, South Vietnam.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain)
  3. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record James Kirkpatrick

    Arrived at New York in 1892 aboard the Furnessia from Glasgow, aged 22; miner. From Ayrshire, Scotland; bound for Pennsylvania.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)

Showing 3 of 2,573 records for Kirkpatrick in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · 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. 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). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).

Australia792 records

792 records of the Kirkpatrick name in Australia
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 491
  • Victoria wills and probate, deaths to 2001 155
  • Other Australian records 146
  1. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Charlotte Kirkpatrick

    Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1831. Married 1833 in Hobart, Tasmania.

    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 William Kirkpatrick

    Transported to New South Wales aboard the Elphinstone, arriving 1838; ticket of leave 1843.

    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 Ellen Kirkpatrick

    Arrived in Victoria in 1857 aboard the White Star, as an infant; Irish.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 792 records for Kirkpatrick in Australia.

Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0) · Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · ACT Government, Transport Canberra and City Services (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · State Library of Western Australia (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Marriage register, Tilburg, 1911, Regionaal Archief Tilburg (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).

Canada304 records

304 records of the Kirkpatrick name in Canada
  • Nova Scotia Archives name indexes 195
  • Canadian Virtual War Memorial 26
  • Other Canadian records 83
  1. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Geo Kirkpatrick

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

    Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario.
  2. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Reginald Alexandre Kirkpatrick

    Buried in 1972 at Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, aged 71.

    Halifax Regional Municipality. Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax.
  3. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Death record Maude Kirkpatrick

    Died 1937 in Digby, Nova Scotia.

    Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia.

Showing 3 of 304 records for Kirkpatrick 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 Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. · City of Vancouver. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. · City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg. · Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · City of Niagara Falls. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Niagara Falls. · Halifax Regional Municipality. Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: 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); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).

United Kingdom40 records

40 records of the Kirkpatrick name in the United Kingdom
  • Stirling Council burial records 17
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 14
  • Other British records 9
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Elizabeth Kirkpatrick

    Buried in 1962 at St Thomas Cemetery, Stirling, Scotland, aged 75.

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

    Buried in 1849 at St James's burial ground, Euston, London, aged 33.

    MOLA and HS2, St James's burial ground data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
  3. A First World War roll of honour of the staff of C. & E. Morton Ltd
    Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919
    War record Robert Kirkpatrick

    Born 1898. Died 1918. Named in the University of Edinburgh roll of honour, 1914-1919.

    National Library of Scotland, Rolls of Honour (public domain)

Showing 3 of 40 records for Kirkpatrick in the United Kingdom.

Counts: Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · National Library of Scotland, Rolls of Honour (public domain) · 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: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0); C. & E. Morton Ltd roll of honour, 1914–1919, photo by Adrian S Pye via Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0).

New Zealand10 records

10 records of the Kirkpatrick name in New Zealand
  • Christchurch City cemetery records 7
  • Marlborough District cemetery records 2
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 1
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Mary Ann Kirkpatrick

    Died 1907, aged 19; buried at Omaka Cemetery, Marlborough.

    Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Minnie Kirkpatrick

    Died 1936, aged 36; buried at Bromley Cemetery, Christchurch, Canterbury.

    Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Elizabeth Kirkpatrick

    Died 1989, aged 93; buried at Memorial Park Cemetery, Christchurch, Canterbury.

    Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 10 records for Kirkpatrick in New Zealand.

Counts: Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0) · Marlborough 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).

France4 records

4 records of the Kirkpatrick 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 Thomas Lawson Kirkpatrick

    Born 1929 in Great Britain; died 1998 in Hyères (Var).

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

    Born 1951 in the United States; died 1994 in Aubenas (Ardèche).

    Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)

Showing 2 of 4 records for Kirkpatrick in France.

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).

Netherlands3 records

3 records of the Kirkpatrick name in the Netherlands
  • Dutch population registers 2
  • Dutch civil registers (births, marriages, deaths) 1
  1. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Clifford John Kirkpatrick

    Married in 1946 in Nijmegen; electrician.

    Open Archives, Gelders Archief (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the 1910 United States census, Milwaukee
    Example: U.S. census, 1910
    Population register Roger Kirkpatrick

    In the population register of Amsterdam; born 1894 in Hastings.

    Open Archives, Stadsarchief Amsterdam (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 2 of 3 records for Kirkpatrick in the Netherlands.

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); U.S. census of 1910, Milwaukee (public domain).

Ireland1 record

1 record of the Kirkpatrick name in Ireland County Galway graveyard records
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Elizabeth Kirk Patrick

    Died 1854, aged 33; buried at St Marys, Tuam, Co. Galway.

    Galway County Council (CC BY 4.0)

Counts: Galway County 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).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Kirkpatrick.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Kirkpatrick 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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