The Knox surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 44,742 people carried this name — #769 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 6,590 people counted. That is up 4% from 42,937 in 2000.

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What the name means

The meaning of the Knox surname

A Scottish surname from Scottish Gaelic.

Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic cnoc (“round hill”).

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

From Charles W. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with Special American Instances (London: Henry Frowde, 1901), p. 461 · public domain.

In Ireland’s birth registers, 1890

Ireland registered 45 births for the Knox name in 1890.

They were registered in all four provinces, most of all in Ulster. By the Registrar-General’s own method — births multiplied by 44.38 — that is about 2,000 people bearing the name in Ireland at the time. The Registrar-General’s note on the name: “Antrim.”

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

Where they were born, 1890

Ulster 32
Munster 6
Leinster 5
Connacht 2

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

In the Nordic population registers

23 people named Knox is counted in Sweden.

Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published.

Counted, by country

Sweden (2022) 23

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).

In Scotland’s registers today

Knox was recorded 77 times in Scotland’s registers of births, marriages and deaths in 2025.

That made it the 347th most common name in those registers, shared with others on the same count. In 1975, the first year of the series, the count was 155. 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

171 families named Knox, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 936 people lived in those households, 5.5 to a family on average. The census counted these spellings together: Knox, Knock, Noc, Noch, Nock, Nocks, Nox. 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 37
North Carolina 27
Maine 19
South Carolina 19
Massachusetts 15
New York 15
Maryland 15
New Hampshire 10
Connecticut 8
Vermont 3
Virginia 3

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

In print

Knox in American newspapers,
1915–1923.

Newspaper page from The Hattiesburg News carrying the name Knox
The Hattiesburg News 1915-12-23
Newspaper page from The Free Press carrying the name Knox
The Free Press 1923-07-26
Newspaper page from Oxford Eagle carrying the name Knox
Oxford Eagle 1916-08-31

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 27,697 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Knox in Australian newspapers,
1820s–2000s.

141,330 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Knox. The most, 30,340, date from the 1910s. 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 Victoria, at 1.3 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

New South Wales 57,036
Victoria 39,763
Queensland 18,868
South Australia 11,893
Western Australia 9,033
Tasmania 3,807
ACT (Canberra) 685
Northern Territory 64

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

Who carried it

People named Knox,
with a public archive behind them.

  • John Knox
    John Knox 1514–1572 · writer
  • Robert Knox
    Robert Knox 1641–1720 · sailor
  • Henry Knox
    Henry Knox 1750–1806 · politician
  • Vicesimus Knox
    Vicesimus Knox 1752–1821 · writer
  • Robert Knox
    Robert Knox 1791–1862 · physician

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped — Robert Knox: Kim Traynor, CC BY-SA 3.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0); the others are in the public domain or CC0 · 227 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Knox,
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 States4,443 records

4,443 records of the Knox name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 1,563
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 835
  • Other U.S. records 2,045
  1. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record James E. Knox

    Born 1930; from Shelby County, Tennessee. U.S. Army, light weapons infantryman; killed in action 1952 in North Korea. Buried at Memphis National Cemetery, Tennessee.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Palmer Knox

    Born 1913 in Maryland. Enlisted 1941 at Baltimore; painter from Queen Annes County. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1994, buried at Chesterfield Cemetery, Centreville, Maryland.

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

    Arrived at New York in 1892 aboard the City of Rome from Glasgow and Moville, aged 22; servant. From Monaghan, Ireland; bound for Philadelphia.

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

Showing 3 of 4,443 records for Knox 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) · City of Asheville (public domain, PDDL). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).

Australia1,898 records

1,898 records of the Knox name in Australia
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 1,133
  • Victoria wills and probate, deaths to 2001 349
  • Other Australian records 416
  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 John Knox

    Transported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the Katherine Stewart Forbes, sailing from London in 1832. Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1841.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A petition to the probate court of St. Louis, 1848
    Example: probate petition, 1848
    Probate record John Bryson Knox

    Died 1937 in Tasmania, aged 77. Will registered in Tasmania in 1937.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record John Knox

    Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1853. Married 1853 in Launceston, Tasmania, aged 29.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 1,898 records for Knox 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) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · ACT Government, Transport Canberra and City Services (CC BY 4.0) · State Library of Western Australia (CC BY 4.0) · City of Ballarat, Avenue of Honour Plaques (CC BY 3.0 AU). 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); Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain); Marriage register, Tilburg, 1911, Regionaal Archief Tilburg (public domain).

Canada397 records

397 records of the Knox name in Canada
  • Nova Scotia Archives name indexes 254
  • Canadian Virtual War Memorial 39
  • Other Canadian records 104
  1. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record M.j Knox

    Came to Ontario in 1877 aboard the Polynesian, landing at Quebec, bound for Kleinburg, Ontario; Irish.

    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 Marie Anne Knox

    Buried in 1988 at St. Mary's Cemetery, Calgary, Alberta, aged 54.

    City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary.
  3. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Civil record John Knox

    Killed in 1870 at the Montague mine, Nova Scotia.

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

Showing 3 of 397 records for Knox 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 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 Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · Halifax Regional Municipality. Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax. · 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. · Contains information provided by the City of Waterloo under licence. 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 Kingdom91 records

91 records of the Knox name in the United Kingdom
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 36
  • Stirling Council burial records 28
  • Other British records 27
  1. A First World War roll of honour of the staff of C. & E. Morton Ltd
    Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919
    War record James Knox

    Born 1894 at Strathore; estate clerk. Served in the First World War. Named in the Morayshire roll of honour (1921).

    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 Robert Knox

    Died 1897, aged 72; buried at Logie Cemetery, Stirling, Scotland.

    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 John Knox

    Buried in 1822 at St James's burial ground, Euston, London, aged 45.

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

Showing 3 of 91 records for Knox in the United Kingdom.

Counts: National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. · 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: 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).

Netherlands58 records

58 records of the Knox name in the Netherlands
  • Dutch church registers before 1811 44
  • Dutch civil registers (births, marriages, deaths) 10
  • Dutch population registers 4
  1. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Death record Hendrik Knox

    Died 1822 in Rotterdam, aged 78.

    Open Archives, Stadsarchief Rotterdam (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Death record Philippus Knox

    Died 1841 in Gouda, aged 69.

    Open Archives, Streekarchief Midden-Holland (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Eleanor Knox

    Married in 1916 in Heemstede.

    Open Archives, Noord-Hollands Archief (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 58 records for Knox 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).

New Zealand42 records

42 records of the Knox name in New Zealand
  • Christchurch City cemetery records 27
  • Thames-Coromandel District cemetery records 10
  • Other New Zealand records 5
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record William Alexander Knox

    Buried in 1930 at Shortland Cemetery, Thames-Coromandel District, Waikato, aged 27.

    Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record James Rutherford Knox

    Died 1962, aged 66; buried at Memorial Park Cemetery, Christchurch, Canterbury.

    Christchurch City 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. Knox

    New Zealand Infantry. Listed among the dead in the War Office casualty list of 1918.

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

Showing 3 of 42 records for Knox in New Zealand.

Counts: Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0) · Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · Marlborough 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); Livre d’or of the war dead, Paris, Ministère des pensions, Archives nationales (CC0).

Germany4 records

4 records of the Knox name in Germany Germany's First World War casualty lists, 1914–1919
  1. A page of the German First World War casualty lists, 18 April 1918
    Example: German casualty list, 1918
    Casualty list Edgar Knox

    From Remiremont, Frankreich. Reported wounded in the Prussian casualty list of 25 September 1914 (Infantry Regiment No. 67).

    Verein für Computergenealogie e.V. (2026). Deutsche Verlustlisten des Ersten Weltkriegs – Datensammlung (Version 1.0), DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18330751 (CC0)
  2. A page of the German First World War casualty lists, 18 April 1918
    Example: German casualty list, 1918
    Casualty list Gustav Knox

    From Sodeiken, Gumbinnen. Reported missing in the Prussian casualty list of 13 November 1918.

    Verein für Computergenealogie e.V. (2026). Deutsche Verlustlisten des Ersten Weltkriegs – Datensammlung (Version 1.0), DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18330751 (CC0)

Showing 2 of 4 records for Knox in Germany.

Counts: Verein für Computergenealogie e.V. (2026). Deutsche Verlustlisten des Ersten Weltkriegs – Datensammlung (Version 1.0), DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18330751 (CC0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Deutsche Verlustlisten, Prussian list 1116, 18 April 1918 (scan via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0).

France2 records

2 records of the Knox 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 Andre Lucien Sylvain Knox

    Born 1952 in Sangatte (Pas-de-Calais); died 1971 in Lille (Nord).

    Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)

Showing 1 of 2 records for Knox 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).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Knox.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Knox 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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