World Population of Grimshaws

Most of the living Grimshaws are in England where the name originated. Halberts¹ (1999, p. 6.2-6.3) published an estimate of about 18,000 persons with the surname Grimshaw, living in about 5,400 households, in the world (see table below). Almost three-fourths (74%) are in England, and nearly all of the rest are in the former British colonies of the U.S., Australia and Canada. Only about two percent live elsewhere in the world.

The distribution of Grimshaw Population in the World is shown below:

	Population	%	Households
Great Britain	13,355	74.1%	3,816
United States	2,471	13.7%	802
Australia	1,034	5.7%	336
Canada	748	4.2%	243
New Zealand	132	0.7%	43
South Africa	98	0.5%	25
Northern Ireland	68	0.4%	19
Channel Islands	NI1	—	16
France	38	0.2%	11
Isle of Man	NI	—	11
Ireland	NI	—	9
Germany	33	0.2%	9
Italy	20	0.1%	6
Switzerland	18	0.1%	5
Total	18,015		5,351

1

NI = Not indicated

About 18% of the living population of Grimshaws (over 3,200 individuals) reside in North America (U.S., 2471; Canada, 748). The ancestors of these Grimshaws apparently migrated to North America as many different Grimshaw individuals and families over a long period extending at least back to the mid-1600s and continuing well into the 20^th century.

Halberts¹ also published an “International Registry” of Grimshaws, which includes entries of individual Grimshaws, grouped by state or
province (or other sub-national political subdivision). Although a cursory review of the data indicates substantial problems, it may be used as a general indicator of the distribution of Grimshaws in the U.S. and Canada.

The table below shows the indicated number of Grimshaws in each state and province. The data include about 774 Grimshaws in the U.S. and 243 in Canada, compared to a total estimated population of 2,471 and 748, respectively, indicated in the table above. The “capture rate” of the “International Registry” database (including duplicate entries) is thus just over 30% for both countries.

The number of Grimshaws in States and Provinces Included in Halberts “International Registry” is shown below.

United States:			Canada:
CA	82	OK	16	AK	4		ON	167
FL	60	AZ	14	KS	4		BC	45
NY	51	CO	14	HI	3		AL	12
MI	49	LA	14	IA	3		MB	10
CT	43	VA	12	IN	3		PQ	7
MA	42	WI	12	NH	3		SA	2
OH	41	MD	11	ID	2
UT	32	NC	10	WV	2
MO	31	SD	10	AL	1
IL	30	ME	9	AR	1
TX	28	KY	8	DE	1
NJ	24	NV	7	MN	1
RI	21	MT	6	ND	1
PA	20	NE	6	TN	1
WA	18	SC	5	WY	1
GA	17
	Total U.S.	774	Total Canada: 243

Notwithstanding the rather highly mobile societies in the U.S. and Canada, it is highly likely that the distribution of Grimshaws in these two countries reflects to some degree the place of entry and settlement patterns of the original Grimshaw immigrants.

References

¹Halberts Family Heritage, 1999, The New World Book of Grimshaws: Bath, OH, Halberts Family Heritage, 187 p.

Webpage History

Webpage posted approximately October 2003.