The Lawyer surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 4,112 people carried this name — #8,049 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 71,900 people counted. That is up 3% from 3,977 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the Lawyer surname
In the first U.S. census, 1790
21 families named Lawyer, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.
Each family is counted by its head. About 113 people lived in those households, 5.4 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
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
Lawyer in American newspapers,
1899.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain.
In print
Lawyer in Australian newspapers,
1820s–2000s.
4,471 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Lawyer. The most, 625, 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 the Australian Capital Territory, at 1.6 times its expected share.
Articles, by state
Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Lawyer.
Who carried it
People named Lawyer,
with a public archive behind them.
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Thomas Lawyer 1785–1868 · lawyer -
Richard E. Lawyer 1932–2005 · astronaut -
Betty Kimball 1912–2010 · actor
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Adele Lawyer 1918–
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Cornelius Lawyer 1935–2020 · baseball coach
Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 7 lives in all are documented under this name.
In the public record
People named Lawyer,
in the records of 3 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 States415 records
- U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 149
- New York State death index (outside NYC), 1957–2001 92
- U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 77
- New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 42
- Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 39
- U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 12
- Sacramento County historic burials 2
- Irish Famine arrivals at New York, 1846–1851 1
- U.S. service members who died in the Vietnam War 1
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Example: U.S. war memorial War record Alfred Lewis LawyerBorn 1949; from New York, New York. U.S. Army, unit supply specialist; killed in action 1969 in Tay Ninh, South Vietnam. Buried at Long Island National Cemetery, New York.
U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) -
Example: U.S. registration card, 1942 Military record Melvin R. LawyerBorn 1923 in Ohio. Enlisted 1943 at Columbus; painter from Fairfield County. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1998, buried at Floral Hills Memory Gardens, Lancaster, Ohio.
U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) -
Example: passenger manifest, 1903 Passenger record Charles LawyerArrived at New York in 1892 aboard the Germanic from Liverpool and Queenstown, aged 18; laborer. From Dublin, Ireland; bound for New York.
U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)
Showing 3 of 415 records for Lawyer in the United States.
Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · 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) · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0) · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain). 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).
Australia7 records
- Tasmanian Names Index 3
- Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 3
- Queensland State Archives indexes 1
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Pictured: convicts going on board a prison ship, 1829 Transportation record James LawyerTransported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the Siren in 1835.
Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) -
Example: German emigration file, 1883 Emigration record John LawyerLeft Launceston in 1853 aboard the Yarra Yarra, bound for Melbourne.
Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) -
Example: civil register, 1880 Death record Thomas LawyerDied 1825 in Hobart, Tasmania.
Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
Showing 3 of 7 records for Lawyer in Australia.
Counts: Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0). 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); Emigration file, Gündlingen, 1883, Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Staatsarchiv Freiburg B 694/1 Nr. 1389 (CC BY 4.0); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).
Canada1 record
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Example: civil register, 1880 Death record George LawyerDied 1927 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia.
Counts: Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Lawyer.
- Lawlor 5,729 · U.S. census
- Ławniczak 472 · U.S. census
- Lawrence 129,699 · U.S. census
- Laws 14,511 · U.S. census
- Lawson 119,053 · U.S. census
- Lawton 13,713 · U.S. census
- Lay 18,468 · U.S. census
- Laya 368 · U.S. census
- Laye 635 · U.S. census
- Layer 1,323 · U.S. census
- Layes 112 · U.S. census
- Layman 10,038 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Lawyer 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.