Explore the Family Name Lyness

The meaning of Lyness

English (northern) and Irish: in part at least, probably a variant of Lines. It was taken to County Armagh, Ireland, in the 17th century and is now found chiefly in counties Antrim and Down, where it is sometimes used for Mac Aleenan.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Lyness had a slight drop in popularity between 2000 and 2010. Initially in 2000, it was ranked at 37,640 and by 2010, it fell to a ranking of 39,052, indicating a decrease of approximately 3.75%. However, the overall count of people with this surname actually increased from 556 to 564 during this ten-year span, showing a growth of 1.44%. Despite this growth, the proportion per 100,000 people decreased by 9.52%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#37,640	#39,052	-3.75%
Count	556	564	1.44%
Proportion per 100k	0.21	0.19	-9.52%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Lyness

When examining the ethnic identity of those with the surname Lyness, the Decennial U.S. Census data revealed that the majority are White, constituting 95.21% in 2010, which is a slight decrease from 95.86% in 2000. The presence of Hispanic ethnicity within the Lyness surname holders experienced a significant increase, going up from 1.26% in 2000 to 1.95% in 2010 - an impressive rise of 54.76%. Individuals identifying as two or more races also bear the surname, making up 1.42% of the population in 2010, marking a small decline from 1.44% in 2000. There were no recorded instances of the surname among Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native populations for either year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.86%	95.21%	-0.68%
Hispanic	1.26%	1.95%	54.76%
Two or More Races	1.44%	1.42%	-1.39%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%