Clan Rising

Taylor

also Tailyour

The tailor, Norman-French occupational, Scots and English in parallel.

Origin
Lothian & Edinburgh, Scotland
Famous bearer
James Taylor (1753–1825), steam-engine pioneer
Register
Scottish family

This name is thick on both sides of the border, so the map shows the whole of the British Isles with every region it touches highlighted. It is a regional pattern for the surname, not proof that your branch lived in each place.

Territory of Taylor across Scotland and England

CoreHistoric reach

The seat of Taylor

Seat vacant

Chief

No one leads the Taylor community yet. When the movement opens, you can stand for its leadership, or help elect whoever does.

Current mission

No shared goal set yet. Once Taylor has leadership, it sets the public focus: a restoration, a gathering, a real-world project that helps its own.

The Taylor clan is being rebuilt. Join the waiting list for the movement today, and you help decide who leads it and what it does.

Help rebuild the Taylor clan →

What does the Taylor name mean?

Occupational, the tailor, from Old French tailleur. One of the principal Norman-imported occupational surnames; in Scotland it appears in the older record as Tailyour (the 'lyour' a Scots phonetic spelling of the Norman ending). Spread across both England and Scotland in parallel, a surname that the Border has never sorted into one country or the other.

The history of Taylor

Taylor is among the dozen most common surnames in both Scotland and England, densest in the central belt and the Lothians on the Scottish side, in Lancashire and the Midlands on the English. Like Smith, Walker and Cooper, it preserves the medieval guild trade in the surname pool of every Lowland parish that ever held a market.

James Taylor (1753–1825) of Strathaven was the engineer who, with Patrick Miller and William Symington, ran the first practical steamboat on Dalswinton Loch in 1788, presaging the Comet and the entire Clyde steamship industry of the 19th century. A. J. P. Taylor (1906–1990), the Lancashire-Scots historian, was the most-read British historian of the post-war period.

Elizabeth Taylor (1932–2011), the actress, came from a Hampstead family of distant Scots-Taylor descent on her father's side.

Champions of the Taylor name

The bearers whose lives are inseparable from this surname. Each has its own page — biography, achievements, geography, connection to the family.

Also found in

The Taylor name has substantial historical presence beyond Scotland. See it on England.

Step Into History

Walk the streets and seats the Taylor name knew — a photoreal walk through time, on foot.

Step Into History · New

Walk Edinburgh in 1511Enter →

The castle on its crag, St Giles' crown spire, and the closes tumbling to the Cowgate.

Step Into History · New

Walk Glasgow in 1840Enter →

The merchant city on the Clyde on the eve of mass emigration — the Cathedral, the Trongate, and the Broomielaw where the ships left.

Step Into History · New

Walk St Andrews in 1450Enter →

Scotland's ecclesiastical capital at its peak — the great cathedral, the bishop's castle on the sea, and the new university.

Step Into History · New

Walk Clydebank in 1934Enter →

John Brown's shipyard on launch day for the Queen Mary — the great hull on the ways, the cranes and the cloth-capped crowd.

Notable bearers of the Taylor name

  • James Taylor (1753–1825), steam-engine pioneer
  • A. J. P. Taylor (1906–1990), historian
  • Elizabeth Taylor (1932–2011), actress
  • Phil Taylor (b. 1960), English professional darts player; sixteen-time World Darts Champion (1990–2013), the dominant single figure of the modern darts era

Stories of Taylor

Frequently asked

What does the surname Taylor mean?

Occupational, the tailor, from Old French tailleur. One of the principal Norman-imported occupational surnames; in Scotland it appears in the older record as Tailyour (the 'lyour' a Scots phonetic spelling of the Norman ending). Spread across both England and Scotland in parallel, a surname that the Border has never sorted into one country or the other. Taylor is among the dozen most common surnames in both Scotland and England, densest in the central belt and the Lothians on the Scottish side, in Lancashire and the Midlands on the English.

Where does the Taylor family come from?

The Taylor family is rooted in Lothian & Edinburgh and Glasgow & Strathclyde, in Scotland. Within that, the name was particularly concentrated in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The atlas page for the name records the historical territory it has held over the centuries.

Where did the Taylor family historically hold territory?

At its greatest historical extent, the Taylor name has been concentrated in Midlothian, Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Fife and Stirling. The atlas page distinguishes the core territory of the name from this wider historical reach with hatched silhouettes on the map.

Is Taylor a Scotland surname?

Taylor is primarily a Scotland surname; it also has substantial historical presence in England. The editorial home of the name in this atlas is Scotland, where the record is densest, with the cross-border presence noted under "Also found in".

How old is the Taylor surname?

Taylor is among the dozen most common surnames in both Scotland and England, densest in the central belt and the Lothians on the Scottish side, in Lancashire and the Midlands on the English. European hereditary surnames crystallised broadly between the 12th and 14th centuries, and the Taylor name took its modern form within that long settlement.

What is the Taylor family known for?

The tailor, Norman-French occupational, Scots and English in parallel. Taylor is among the dozen most common surnames in both Scotland and England, densest in the central belt and the Lothians on the Scottish side, in Lancashire and the Midlands on the English.

Who is the most famous Taylor?

The best-known bearer of the Taylor name is James Taylor (1753–1825), steam-engine pioneer. Other prominent figures of the family include A. J. P. Taylor (1906–1990), historian, Elizabeth Taylor (1932–2011), actress and Phil Taylor (b. 1960), English professional darts player; sixteen-time World Darts Champion (1990–2013), the dominant single figure of the modern darts era.

Who are some famous Taylors?

Notable bearers of the Taylor name include James Taylor (1753–1825), steam-engine pioneer, A. J. P. Taylor (1906–1990), historian, Elizabeth Taylor (1932–2011), actress and Phil Taylor (b. 1960), English professional darts player; sixteen-time World Darts Champion (1990–2013), the dominant single figure of the modern darts era. Each is profiled on the family page, with cross-links to the geography, stories, and historical events tied to their life.

What stories are told about the Taylor family?

The Taylor family is associated with Phil Taylor takes his sixteenth World Darts title. Each story has its own page on this site with the full account, the date, the location, and the other families involved.

What is the story of Phil Taylor takes his sixteenth World Darts title?

On the evening of Sunday the ninth of January 2011 at the Alexandra Palace in north London, in the final of the eighteenth Professional Darts Corporation World Darts Championship, the fifty-year-old Stoke-on-Trent-born professional darts player Phil The Power Taylor, the universally-recognised central single figure of the modern professional darts era, defeated the Dutch challenger Adrian Lewis 7 sets to 5 in the final to take his sixteenth World Darts Championship across the joint BDO and PDC sanctioning circuits (the British Darts Organisation championship 1990, 1992; the Professional Darts Corporation championship continuously 1995 to 2002 and intermittently to 2013). The sixteen-World-Championship-title record has been held by no other player in the history of professional darts; the nearest competitor on the all-time men's-darts-major-championship-list is Eric Bristow (the five-time BDO World Champion of the 1980s) and Michael van Gerwen (the three-time PDC World Champion of the modern era). The event is dated to 2011.

Is Tailyour the same family as Taylor?

Yes. Tailyour is a historical spelling variant of the Taylor name. The two share the same lineage and family affiliation; different parishes, clerks and migration registrars recorded the same name in slightly different forms, and the variant spellings sit on the same family tree.

Where is the Taylor surname found today?

Scotland is the primary historical home of the Taylor surname. In the modern era, the name is also borne across the wider diaspora, particularly in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where families carry the line of descent from the same Scotland origin recorded on this page.

What does the Clan Rising page for the Taylor family cover?

The Clan Rising page for the Taylor family covers the meaning of the surname, the historical geography of the name, famous bearers of the name, traditional stories and the seat of the head of the family. Each section is linked to the underlying atlas of Scotland so the name can be read in the geography that shaped it.

Who is the head of the Taylor family today?

The seat for the head of the Taylor family is currently vacant on this register. Clan Rising is rebuilding the chief and family structure for the modern era, and the family page allows readers to claim the seat or pledge to the name.

Neighbouring clans