Balfour is used as a family name or surname in Scotland. It is 7 characters long in length.

Family Name / Last Name: Balfour
No. of characters: 7
Origin: Scotland
Meaning: From the barony and castle of Balfour near the confluence of the rivers Or and Leven. Ball and Balla, in Gaelic, signifies a casting up, raising and denotes a wall, fortress, house, a village. Balfour i.e., the Keep or castle on the river Or. Balfoir, the castle of deliverance or security.

How popular is Balfour?

Balfour is common in Scotland.

Balfour is ranked 38863 on our list.

Despite the fact that the number of Balfour bearers increased by 8 per cent in 2010 US census to 2268 since 2000, the surname slipped by 124 spots and ranked at 13435. The last name was found in around 8 per 1 million population. Please refer to following table for race and ethnicity.

Race 2010 2000
White 63.8 67.81
Black 29.32 26.71
Hispanic or Latino 4.14 2.9
Others 1.85 1.52
Asian and Native Hawaiian
& Other Pacific Islander		 0.66 0.62
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.22 0.43
Balfour is quite popular family name mostly used in United States while The Bahamas is ahead in terms of density. Around 12624 people have been found who wears Balfour as their family name. Balfour is used widely across the globe. More detailed information can be found below:
RankCountryCount
Countries with very very low frequency i.e., 1 - 10:
705 Gibraltar7
13,220 Thailand6
101,066 Zimbabwe5
9,500 Ghana3
661,536 Indonesia3
9,097 Wales3
19,452 Malaysia3
21,529 Singapore2
18,035 Egypt2
6,900 Oman2
2,823 Papua New Guinea2
9,926 Ivory Coast1
28,365 Kenya1
56,169 Mexico1
8,859 Iraq1
38,830 Morocco1
37,493 Austria1
1,542 Andorra1
24,176 Qatar1
2,190 Barbados1
91,024 Belgium1
9,591 Panama1
2,374 Bermuda1
49,101 Denmark1
58,885 Poland1
700 Somalia1
492,292 Ukraine1
Countries with very low frequency i.e., 10 - 50:
23,537 Switzerland45
95,259 Italy45
9,524 Portugal37
53,193 Spain35
49,393 Netherlands35
9,692 Ireland27
387,178 India23
28,338 Norway20
Countries with low frequency i.e., 50 - 100:
2,305 Northern Ireland95
104,308 France86
3,881 Hong Kong59
17,264 Israel59
17,601 United Arab Emirates54
Countries with hundreds of Balfour:
3,299 Australia934
569 Trinidad and Tobago388
1,091 Jamaica286
3,723 New Zealand206
31,005 Argentina164
71,225 Germany134
365 The Bahamas112
Countries with thousands of Balfour:
11,588 United States3,083
3,381 England2,269
3,905 South Africa1,680
3,293 Canada1,434
662 Scotland1,260
Show Full Last Name Distribution

Immigrants to US

From Ireland

William Balfour worked as farmer and hailed from Great Britain. During the great famine, 33 years old embarked for USA from Glasgow on Brooksby and arrived on June 1, 1846. C. Balfour, Henry Balfour, aged 6, William Balfour, aged 2, Robert Balfour (11 months old) Infant, Ann. Balfour (21) Workwoman, Moses Balfour (60) Farmer, Dally Balfour, aged 55, are other Balfour that migrated to US.

Comments

R
Rebekah Espy
The origin of the name is Indo-European there are several etymological possibilities for this name or it comes from the French agglutination former beat the fuerre which means one who beats the thatch to cover roofs; and by extension the roofer or it comes from the Scottish place name Balfour meaning the village pastures.

Balfour Namesakes

    Betty Balfour, British film actress, popular during the silent film era
  • Betty Balfour, Actress
  • Penny Balfour, Film actress
  • Arthur Balfour, Former British Prime Minister
  • Arthur Balfour, Former British Prime Minister
  • Arthur Balfour, Former British Prime Minister
  • Samson G Balfour Smith, Musical Artist
  • Arthur Balfour, Former British Prime Minister
  • Arthur Balfour, Former British Prime Minister
  • Arthur Balfour, Former British Prime Minister
  • Isaac Bayley Balfour, Botanist

Related Family Names: