Explore the Family Name Gilfillan

The meaning of Gilfillan

1. Scottish (Glasgow): from a shortened Anglicized form of the Gaelic personal name Gille Fhaolain ‘servant of (Saint) Fillan’, possibly a patronymic without mac ‘son’. 2. Irish (Donegal and Derry) and Scottish: variant of McClelland.

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

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

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname "Gilfillan" has seen a slight decrease in the past decade. Ranked 20,401 in the year 2000, it dropped to 20,601 by 2010, showing a decline of 2.79%. Despite this drop in rank, the actual count of individuals with the Gilfillan surname increased from 1,238 to 1,286 during the same period. However, when taking into consideration the overall population growth, the proportion per 100k people decreased by 4.35%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#20,041	#20,601	-2.79%
Count	1,238	1,286	3.88%
Proportion per 100k	0.46	0.44	-4.35%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Gilfillan

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals some fluctuations within the Gilfillan family over a decade. The majority of individuals identifying with this surname remain predominantly White, although the percentage saw a minor decrease of 0.70% from 2000 to 2010. During the same timeframe, those identifying as Hispanic and those identifying with two or more races saw considerable increases in their proportions, at 48.77% and 38.05% respectively. The population of Gilfillans identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander also experienced a slight increase, while the numbers for Black and American Indian and Alaskan Native ethnicities showed marginal decreases.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.83%	94.17%	-0.7%
Hispanic	1.62%	2.41%	48.77%
Two or More Races	1.13%	1.56%	38.05%
Black	0.81%	0.78%	-3.7%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.65%	0.7%	7.69%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.97%	0.39%	-59.79%