The Lightner surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 5,701 people carried this name — #6,029 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 51,800 people counted. That is up 3% from 5,560 in 2000.

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In the first U.S. census, 1790

15 families named Lightner, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 106 people lived in those households, 7.1 to a family on average. The table counts it together with 6 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 12
South Carolina 2
Maryland 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. 250 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.

In print

Lightner in American newspapers,
1909–1930.

Newspaper page from The Daily Missoulian carrying the name Lightner
The Daily Missoulian 1909-07-24
Newspaper page from The Laramie Republican carrying the name Lightner
The Laramie Republican 1910-05-16
Newspaper page from Marion Progress carrying the name Lightner
Marion Progress 1930-09-04

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 20,041 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Lightner in Australian newspapers,
1930s–1960s.

565 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Lightner. The most, 451, date from the 1930s. Weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, it stands out most in Victoria, at 1.9 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

Victoria 167
New South Wales 163
Queensland 102
South Australia 55
Western Australia 46
Tasmania 28
ACT (Canberra) 3

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

Who carried it

People named Lightner,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Winnie Lightner
    Winnie Lightner 1899–1971 · actor
  • Caroline Drake Lightner 1862–1945
  • Milton C. Lightner 1886–1967 · politician
  • Otto C. Lightner 1887–1950 · newspaper proprietor
  • Theodore Lightner 1893–1981 · lawyer
  • Joseph Lightner 1900–1988 · American football player

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 Lightner,
in the records of the United States.

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 States362 records

362 records of the Lightner name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 228
  • U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 84
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 21
  • New York State death index (outside NYC), 1957–2001 10
  • U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 6
  • Sacramento County historic burials 5
  • Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 4
  • U.S. service members who died in the Korean War 3
  • Irish Famine arrivals at New York, 1846–1851 1
  1. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Paul W. Lightner

    Born 1923 in Pennsylvania. Enlisted 1943 at Harrisburg; sales clerk. U.S. Army veteran of World War II and the Korean War; died 1997, buried at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery, Pennsylvania.

    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 Richard E. Lightner

    Born 1930; from Berks County, Pennsylvania. U.S. Army, light weapons infantryman; killed in action 1950 in South Korea.

    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 Therese Lightner

    Arrived at New York in 1891 aboard the Slavonia from Hamburg, aged 29. From St.Louis, Saxony, Germany; bound for New York.

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

Showing 3 of 362 records for Lightner 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) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (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).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Lightner.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Lightner 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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