Chisholm (surname)

Chisholm is a Scottish surname. Variants include Chisholme and Chisolm.

The original name was 'De Chesé' to which the Saxon termination 'holme' was added on the marriage of a Norman ancestor with a Saxon heiress. The first recorded person of the name is a John de Chisholme, who is named in 1254 in a bull of Pope Alexander IV and found in the County of Roxburgh. In the 14th century, members of the Chisholm family migrated into the Scottish Highlands and their name was Gaelicised. The Scottish Gaelic form of the name is Siosal (masculine), and Shiosal (feminine).

Notable people with the surname or its variants include:

In Australia

 * Alan Rowland Chisholm (1888–1981), professor of French, critic and memorialist
 * Alexander Hugh Chisholm (1890–1977), journalist, newspaper editor, author and ornithologist
 * Alice Chisholm (1856–1954), Australian woman who provided canteen services for soldiers in Egypt and Palestine during World War I
 * Anthony Chisholm (politician) (born 1978), Australian politician
 * Caroline Chisholm (1808–1877) Renowned 19th century social worker in Australia
 * Dane Chisholm (born 1990), Australian rugby league footballer
 * Eric Chisholm (1892–1946), Australian rules footballer
 * Geoff Chisholm (1929–2006), Australian politician
 * Keith Chisholm (1918–1991), distinguished Australian fighter pilot
 * Les Chisholm (1888–1923), Australian rules footballer
 * Mark Chisholm (born 1981), Australian rugby union footballer
 * Scott Chisholm (footballer) (born 1973), Aboriginal Australian Rules footballer
 * Sheila Chisholm (1895–1969), socialite in British high society

In Canada

 * Alexander Chisholm (Upper Canada politician) (1790–1854), political figure in Upper Canada
 * Angus Chisholm (1908–1979), Cape Breton fiddler
 * Arthur Murray Chisholm (1871–1960), Canadian author of Western fiction
 * Bob Chisholm (born 1947), Canadian politician
 * Brock Chisholm (1896–1971), physician
 * Christopher P. Chisholm (1854–?), Canadian lawyer and political figure
 * Daniel Black Chisholm (1832–1899), Canadian farmer, lawyer and politician
 * Donald Chisholm (politician) (1822–1890), Canadian Member of Parliament
 * George King Chisholm (1814–1874), politician
 * Joseph Andrew Chisholm (1863–1950), politician and jurist
 * Kenneth Chisholm (1829–1906), Canadian businessman and politician
 * Marie-Hélène Chisholm (born 1979), judoka
 * Robert Chisholm (Canadian politician) (born 1957), former politician
 * Robert Kerr Chisholm (1819–1899), politician
 * William Chisholm (Nova Scotia politician) (1870–1936), politician
 * William Chisholm (Upper Canada politician) (1788–1842), founder of Oakville, Ontario

In the United Kingdom

 * Aeneas Chisholm (vicar apostolic of the Highland District) (1759–1818), Roman Catholic bishop in Scotland
 * Aeneas Chisholm (Bishop of Aberdeen) (1836–1918), Scottish prelate who served as the Roman Catholic Bishop of Aberdeen
 * Alastair Chisholm (fl. 2023), Scottish children's writer
 * Alex Chisholm (born 1968), British civil servant
 * Alexander Chisholm (1792?–1847), British portrait and historical painter
 * Alexander William Chisholm, 25th of Chisholm (1810–1838) Scottish landowner, clan chief and MP
 * Caroline Chisholm (1808–1877), English humanitarian
 * Catherine Chisholm (1878–1952), British physician
 * Cecil Chisholm (1888–1961), British journalist, publisher and author
 * David Chisholm (1937–1998), Scottish rugby union footballer
 * Duncan Chisholm (born 1968), Scottish fiddle player and composer
 * Erik Chisholm (1904–1965), Scottish composer and conductor
 * Geoffrey Duncan Chisholm (1931–1994), British urologist
 * George Chisholm (geographer) (1850–1930), author of first English-language economic geography textbook
 * George Chisholm (musician) (1915–1997), jazz trombonist
 * Gordon Chisholm (born 1960), Scottish footballer
 * Grace Chisholm Young (1868–1944), mathematician (maiden name 'Chisholm')
 * Hugh Chisholm (1866–1924), journalist and editor of the Encyclopædia Britannica
 * Iain Chisholm (born 1985), Scottish footballer
 * Janet Chisholm (1929–2004), MI6 agent
 * John Chisholm (soldier), 16th-century Comptroller and Prefect of the Scottish artillery
 * John Chisholm (vicar apostolic of the Highland District) (1752–1814), Roman Catholic bishop in Scotland
 * John Chisholm (engineer) (born 1946), engineer, chairman of the Medical Research Council and QinetiQ
 * John Stephen Roy Chisholm (1926–2015), English mathematical physicist
 * Ken Chisholm (1925–1990), Scottish footballer
 * Malcolm Chisholm (born 1949), Scottish politician
 * Mairi Chisholm (1896–1981), Scottish nurse and ambulance driver in the First World War
 * Melanie Chisholm (better known as Melanie C), British singer
 * Robert Chisholm (architect) (1838–1915), architect of the Indo-Saracenic Senate House of the University of Madras
 * William Chisholm (died 1564), bishop of Dunblane
 * William Chisholm (died 1593), bishop of Dunblane and of Vaison, nephew to the above

In the United States

 * Anthony Chisholm (actor), (1943–2020), American actor
 * Henry Chisholm (1822–1881), Scottish American businessman
 * Hugh J. Chisholm (1847–1912), industrialist
 * Jesse Chisholm (died 1868), American Indian trader, guide, and interpreter for whom the Chisholm Trail is named
 * John Chisholm (born 1963), American prosecutor
 * Jori Chisholm (born 1975), bagpiper
 * Kari Chisholm (born 1973), United States politician
 * Linda Chisholm (born 1957), United States volleyball player
 * Malcolm H. Chisholm (1945–2015), chemist
 * Roderick Chisholm (1916–1999), philosopher
 * Sallie W. Chisholm (born 1947), scientist who discovered the cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus
 * Shirley Chisholm (1924–2005), politician
 * Thomas Chisholm (songwriter), American songwriter who wrote several prominent Christian hymns including "Great Is Thy Faithfulness"
 * Tim Chisholm (born 1969), player of real tennis
 * Tanya Chisholm (born 1984), American actress
 * William Chisholm (died 1877), victim of the Chisolm Massacre
 * Terrance Jamel Chisolm American songwriter, Composer, Army Veteran (Born 1982)

Elsewhere

 * Jamel Chisholm (born 1995), Jamaican international rugby league footballer playing in England
 * Jazz Chisholm Jr. (born 1998), Bahamian baseball player

Chisholme

 * John James Scott-Chisholme (1851–1899), British cavalry officer who died in the Second Anglo-Boer War

Chisolm

 * Garrett Chisolm, American NFL player
 * Richard Chisolm, cinematographer and film-maker based in Baltimore, Maryland

Chisum

 * David Chisum (born 1970), American actor
 * Donald S. Chisum, American legal scholar
 * Gloria Chisum (born 1930), American psychologist
 * John Chisum (1824–1884), American cattle baron, depicted in the 1970 Western film Chisum
 * John Chisum (baseball) (1915–1982), American baseball player