Explore the Family Name Tilford

The meaning of Tilford

English (Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire): 1. variant of Telfer. 2. perhaps occasionally a habitational name from Tilford in Farnham (Surrey). The placename probably derives from the Old English personal name Tila, Tilla + Old English ford ‘ford’.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Tilford has experienced a slight dip in popularity between the years 2000 and 2010. In 2000, the surname was ranked 16,062, but by 2010, it had slipped to 16,868, a decrease of just over 5%. However, the count rose slightly from 1,657 in 2000 to 1,690 in 2010, indicating an increase of nearly 2%. The proportion of individuals with the Tilford surname per 100,000 people also saw a decrease of 6.56% during this period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#16,062	#16,868	-5.02%
Count	1,657	1,690	1.99%
Proportion per 100k	0.61	0.57	-6.56%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Tilford

When looking at the ethnic identity associated with the surname Tilford, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals some shifts between 2000 and 2010. The majority identifying as White decreased slightly from 77.19% to 75.74%. Those identifying as Black remained relatively constant, with a minimal decrease from 19.43% to 19.17%. Notably, there were increases among those identifying as Hispanic (from 1.09% to 1.95%) and those identifying with two or more races (from 1.69% to 2.37%). Additionally, small proportions began to identify as Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian and Alaskan Native in 2010, where there had been none recorded in these categories in 2000.

	2000	2010	Change
White	77.19%	75.74%	-1.88%
Black	19.43%	19.17%	-1.34%
Two or More Races	1.69%	2.37%	40.24%
Hispanic	1.09%	1.95%	78.9%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.41%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0.36%	0%