The Tait surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 6,271 people carried this name — #5,540 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 46,900 people counted. That is up 4% from 6,037 in 2000.

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What the name means

The meaning of the Tait surname

A Scottish surname transferred from the nickname, originally a nickname for a cheerful or lively person.

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Tait» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.

In Argentina’s national register

At least 69 people named Tait 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 Buenos Aires Province.

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

Where they live today

Buenos Aires Province 55
Córdoba 14

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

Among the farmers of England and Wales, 1880s

Tait was found among the farmers of 2 counties.

It was most frequent in Northumberland: 30 in every 10,000 farmers there — about 1 in 333. 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

Northumberland 30
Durham 8

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, 1880s

Tait was 13 in every 10,000 names in Scotland.

That is about 1 in 769. Its home there, in Guppy’s words: “Scottish border counties.” 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. 594 — public domain · names in Halliburton’s County Directory of Scotland, per 10,000 for the whole country.

In Scotland’s registers today

Tait was recorded 154 times in Scotland’s registers of births, marriages and deaths in 2025.

That made it the 148th most common name in those registers. In 1975, the first year of the series, the count was 263. 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 print

Tait in American newspapers,
1899–1919.

Newspaper page from The Bottineau Courant carrying the name Tait
The Bottineau Courant 1917-08-02
Newspaper page from The San Francisco Call carrying the name Tait
The San Francisco Call 1899-02-18
Newspaper page from The Bottineau Courant carrying the name Tait
The Bottineau Courant 1919-08-07

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 189,112 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Tait in Australian newspapers,
1810s–2000s.

124,394 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Tait. The most, 19,395, date from the 1900s. Weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, it stands out most in Victoria, at 1.4 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

Victoria 38,688
New South Wales 30,336
Queensland 29,142
South Australia 15,834
Western Australia 5,055
Tasmania 4,880
ACT (Canberra) 233
Northern Territory 28

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

Who carried it

People named Tait,
with a public archive behind them.

  • William Tait d. 1800 · politician
  • Donald Tait d. 1932 · priest
  • John C. Tait d. 1999 · civil servant
  • Jim Tait d. 1972 · rugby league player
  • Alexander Tait d. 1781
  • Leslie Tait d. 1950

Wikidata (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Tait,
in the records of 9 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 States1,198 records

1,198 records of the Tait name in the United States
  • U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 316
  • Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 289
  • Other U.S. records 593
  1. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Mant M. Tait

    Born 1925; from Hennepin County, Minnesota. U.S. Army, light weapons infantryman; killed in action 1951 in North Korea. Buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Minnesota.

    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 Kenneth D. Tait

    Born 1916 in Pennsylvania. Enlisted 1942 at Fort Dix, New Jersey, from Kings County, New York. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1957, buried at Long Island National Cemetery, New York.

    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 Giovanni Tait

    Arrived at New York in 1901 aboard the Gallia from Marseilles, Naples and Greece, aged 27; laborer. From Mezzano, Trento, Italy; bound for New York.

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

Showing 3 of 1,198 records for Tait in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · 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).

Australia2,359 records

2,359 records of the Tait name in Australia
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 1,220
  • Victoria wills and probate, deaths to 2001 516
  • Other Australian records 623
  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 Margaret Tait

    Transported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the Stately, sailing from Plymouth in 1849. Native of Edinburgh, Midlothian. Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1850. Married 1850 in Hamilton, Tasmania.

    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 Robert Tait

    Died 1882 in Launceston, Tasmania, aged 83. Will registered in Tasmania in 1882.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Death record Alfred William Tait

    Born 1878 in Oatlands, Tasmania. Died 1938 in Tasmania, aged 60.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 2,359 records for Tait in Australia.

Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY) · State Library of Western Australia (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · 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); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).

Canada479 records

479 records of the Tait name in Canada
  • Nova Scotia Archives name indexes 278
  • Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver 64
  • Other Canadian records 137
  1. The first page of an emigration file from Gündlingen, Baden, 1883
    Example: German emigration file, 1883
    Emigration record Thomas Tait

    Left New York in 1783 aboard the Lydia, bound for Annapolis Royal, aged 23.

    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 And Tait

    Came to Ontario in 1874 aboard the Manitoban, bound for Port Stanley, Ontario; Scotch.

    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 Walter Whitson Tait

    Buried in 1994 at Queen's Park Cemetery, Calgary, Alberta, aged 83.

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

Showing 3 of 479 records for Tait in Canada.

Counts: Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. · City of Vancouver. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. · 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 Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. · Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. · Halifax Regional Municipality. Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax. · 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. 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 Kingdom117 records

117 records of the Tait name in the United Kingdom
  • Stirling Council burial records 52
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 35
  • Other British records 30
  1. A First World War roll of honour of the staff of C. & E. Morton Ltd
    Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919
    War record Robert James Tait

    Born 1891 at Arbroath; plumber. 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 George Tait

    Buried in 1895 at Ballengeich Cemetery, Stirling, Scotland, aged 62.

    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 Deborah Tait

    Buried in 1845 at St James's burial ground, Euston, London, aged 66.

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

Showing 3 of 117 records for Tait 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: 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 Zealand72 records

72 records of the Tait name in New Zealand
  • Christchurch City cemetery records 53
  • Marlborough District cemetery records 14
  • Other New Zealand records 5
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record George William Tait

    Died 2000, aged 70; buried at Memorial Park Cemetery, 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 James Tait

    Died 1909, aged 25; buried at Omaka Cemetery, Marlborough.

    Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Death record Myrtle I. Tait

    Born 1906, died 1998; ashes interred at Kaiapoi Public Cemetery, Canterbury.

    Waimakariri District Council (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 72 records for Tait in New Zealand.

Counts: Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0) · Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0) · Waimakariri District Council (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · Canterbury Maps (Environment Canterbury), Timaru and Mackenzie District Councils (CC BY 3.0 NZ). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).

Netherlands5 records

5 records of the Tait name in the Netherlands
  • Dutch population registers 2
  • Dutch civil registers (births, marriages, deaths) 2
  • Dutch church registers before 1811 1
  1. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Alfred Peter Tait

    Married in 1948 in Emmen; "landmeter".

    Open Archives, Drents Archief (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record William Tait

    Married in 1924 in Schiedam; born 1894 in Gourock, Great Britain.

    Open Archives, Gemeentearchief Schiedam (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 2 of 5 records for Tait 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).

Ireland4 records

4 records of the Tait name in Ireland County Galway graveyard records
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Violet Tait

    Died 1918, aged 31; buried at St Marys, Tuam, Co. Galway.

    Galway County Council (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record John H. Tait

    Died 1875, aged 23; buried at Moylough, Co. Galway.

    Galway County Council (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 2 of 4 records for Tait in Ireland.

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).

France4 records

4 records of the Tait 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 Geoffrey Colin Tait

    Born 1917 in Portugal; died 1991 in Anglet (Pyrénées-Atlantiques).

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

    Born 1901 in Paris; died 1985 in Juvisy-sur-Orge (Essonne).

    Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)

Showing 2 of 4 records for Tait 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).

Norway3 records

3 records of the Tait name in Norway Norway's 1910 census
  1. A page of the 1910 United States census, Milwaukee
    Example: U.S. census, 1910
    Census record Alize Tait

    Census of 1910: Grinaker, Nedre Eker; born 1909 in Scotland.

    Arkivverket, Digitalarkivet, 1910 census (CC BY 3.0 NO)
  2. A page of the 1910 United States census, Milwaukee
    Example: U.S. census, 1910
    Census record Robert Tait

    Census of 1910: Grinaker, Nedre Eker; born 1883 in Afrika.

    Arkivverket, Digitalarkivet, 1910 census (CC BY 3.0 NO)

Showing 2 of 3 records for Tait in Norway.

Counts: Arkivverket, Digitalarkivet, 1910 census (CC BY 3.0 NO). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: U.S. census of 1910, Milwaukee (public domain).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Tait.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Tait 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.

See the Tait volume
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