Introduction / The Island / Population / Surnames

Surnames As Percentage of Population

Analysis of the surnames per the censuses as a percentage of the population does show the dominance of certain names and also their relative movement over the period.

Surname	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891	1901
Sinclair	16	3	-	-	-	2	-
Drever	25	30	44	30	27	28	19
Harcus	19	16	24	24	22	28	11
Drummond	22	23	12	19	21	5	2
Groat	15	17	16	14	15	10	19
Burgar/Burgess	-	7	4	6	8	9	11
Shearer	1	1	-	-	-	-	-
Donaldson	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Peace	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
Allan	-	1	-	5	7	-	-
Muir	-	-	-	1	-	-	-
Stout	-	-	-	-	-	2	-
Seatter	-	-	-	1	-	-	9
Wallace	-	-	-	-	-	2	2
Cowper	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
McCallum	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
Stevenson	-	-	-	-	-	-	6
Dearness	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
Reid	1	1	-	-	-	14	15
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Population Size	67	69	82	83	72	58	47

On this basis it can be seen that Burgar or the variant Burgess and also Groat have maintained the relative position to the start of the 20th century. However while still the most common surnames, Drever and Harcus are surnames for a smaller proportion of the island.

It should be remembered that the population declined significantly in the last thirty years of the period covered thus giving a very small sample size. The increasing movement of families were to cause significant changes in surnames.