Explore the Family Name Bywater

The meaning of Bywater

1. English: topographic name for someone living by a lake or river, from Middle English by ‘by, beside’ + water ‘water’. 2. Irish: pseudo-translation (due to confusion with sruth ‘stream’) of Gaelic Ó Srutháin ‘descendant of Sruithán’, a personal name from a diminutive of sruith ‘sage, elder’. By water is found as the English form of this Gaelic name in County Cork, while in Mayo the usual Anglicization is Ryan.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Bywater in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Bywater's popularity has seen a slight decrease over the past decade. In 2000, this moniker held the rank of 23,863 and increased to 24,305 by 2010, marking a 1.85% drop in its ranking. However, the count of individuals with this surname went up from 988 in 2000 to 1,032 in 2010, indicating a rise of 4.45%. The proportion per 100k people also noted a small decline of 5.41%, moving from 0.37 in 2000 to 0.35 in 2010.

20002010Change
Rank#23,863#24,305-1.85%
Count9881,0324.45%
Proportion per 100k0.370.35-5.41%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Bywater

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data showed that the majority of those with the surname Bywater identified as White, with a slight 1.02% decrease from 95.65% in 2000 to 94.67% in 2010. During this time frame, there was no representation of the Asian/Pacific Islander or Black communities within this surname group. The number of individuals identifying with two or more ethnicities saw a decline from 2.02% to 1.36%, which is a change of -32.67%. However, both the Hispanic and American Indian and Alaskan Native categories saw significant increases. The Hispanic representation surged from 0.81% in 2000 to 2.03% in 2010, a massive growth of 150.62%. Similarly, the American Indian and Alaskan Native representation rose from 0.61% to 1.36%, a notable increase of 122.95%.

20002010Change
White95.65%94.67%-1.02%
Hispanic0.81%2.03%150.62%
Two or More Races2.02%1.36%-32.67%
American Indian and Alaskan Native0.61%1.36%122.95%
Asian/Pacific Islander0%0%0%
Black0%0%0%