Whilst common surnames such as Smith are found all across England, at the
time of the 1881 Census of England & Wales rarer surnames were often
concentrated in one or two counties.
Where a particular spelling is found only or largely in one area, this may
reflect the local dialect. In the early 19th century much of the population of
England was illiterate, and for someone who could not write his own surname the
spelling would have been of little or no interest.
Suffolk surnames
Surnames that in 1881 were more likely to be found in Suffolk include: Aldiss,
Aldous, Aldred, Aldrich, Allerton, Baldry, Bantock, Bareham, Barrell, Battell, Bedingfield, Bedwell, Bilner,
Bird, Blomfield, Bloom, Bloomfield, Boast,
Botwright, Boreham, Boutell, Bowers, Bradstreet, Brett, Brinkley, Bryanton,
Bumpstead, Burch, Burwood, Byford, Cable, Cady, Calver, Cardy,
Catchpole, Cattermole, Catton, Chinery, Chisnall, Chittock, Churchard,
Churchyard, Clutten, Cobbold, Coe, Crickmore, Crisp, Crowfoot, Cullingham,
Cunday, Dade, Dallenger, Death, Debenham,
Dennington, Ditcham, Drane, Driver, Dunnett, Durrant, Eighteen, Ely,
Fairhead, Fenn, Finch, Fisk, Folkard, Forsdike, Frewer, Frost, Gant, Garrard,
Garrod, Gildersleeves, Gooch, Gormer, Gosling, Grimsey, Grimwade, Grimwood,
Halls, Hambling, Hammond, Hawes, Haylock, Hayward, Hines, Howe, Howes,
Howlett, Hurrell, Hurren,
Hynard, Jarrold, Keeble, Knights, Last, Ling, Lingley, Manning,
Marjoram, Middleditch, Morling, Mower, Musk, Nunn, Osborne, Pallant, Pearl,
Pettit, Pleasants, Plummer, Podd, Pryke, Pulford, Pulham, Quinton, Rackham, Rouse, Ruffles,
Rumbelow, Ruth, Sawyer, Seeley,
Sillett, Smy, Soames, Southgate, Spalding, Spall, Sparke, Sparrow, Stannard, Steward, Sturgeon,
Syrett, Tye, Upson, Vice, Vince, Waspe, Watling, Welton, Whatling, Wigg, Wilby, Wilding, Woodard,
Woodgate, Woolner, Woolnough, Wyard
Perhaps
surprisingly, whilst in 1881 there were 323 people in England & Wales whose surname was recorded as
Suffolk, not one of them was living in the county!
