Small family name history and map
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Small in 1911 Ireland
The 1911 Census recorded 921 people named Small in Ireland; roughly one in every 4,800 people carried the name. The name was split fairly evenly between men and women: 469 men and 449 women. (A small number, 3, had no sex recorded.)
Counties with Small in Ireland
Down was Small country: 29% of them (267 people) lived there in 1911. Next came Antrim (199), Galway (106), Tyrone (58) and Limerick (49).
Small average age in 1911
The average Small in 1911 was 28.6 years old, 28.2 for men and 28.9 for women; a touch younger than the national averages of 29.6 for men and 30.5 for women. That low figure reflects just how many children there were in Edwardian Ireland, along with high infant mortality and the limits of public health at the time. For comparison, average life expectancy in Ireland today is around 83.
Small literacy in 1911
Of the Smalls whose literacy was recorded, 78.1% could both read and write, 5.4% could read but not write, and 16.5% could do neither. Men came out slightly ahead, 79.1% reading and writing against 76.9% of women. Bear in mind these figures include young children; the census itself only counted people aged nine and over when calculating illiteracy, on the grounds that it was unfair to label a child illiterate before they'd had a chance to learn.
Small common first names
The most common male names were John (56), James, William, Thomas and Patrick. For women it was Mary (52), followed by Bridget, Ellen, Elizabeth and Sarah.
Small occupations in 1911
The most common entry on a Small's census form was "Scholar"; 22% (203) were children at school. Among the rest, the most common occupations were farmer (12.3%), farm labourer (4.1%), general labourer (4%) and textile worker (3.8%). Grouped by sector, agriculture accounted for 17% of all Smalls, followed by textiles & clothing, general labourers and domestic service.
What religion is Small?
Most Smalls, 57.5%, were Roman Catholic. The remainder were mostly Presbyterian (24.5%), Anglican (14.5%), Baptist (1.2%) and Methodist (0.8%).
Visitor Notes
Review type for post source and surnames source type not found
Added by
Pete F
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Small statistics (1911)
Number: 921
Rank: 839
Average Age: 29
Small in the USA (2020)
Number: 44,613
Rank: 761
Note: If there were less than 100 in the USA census it will show as zero.