Abercrombie
A Scottish habitational surname from Abercrombie in Fife, probably meaning a place at the bend or confluence of a stream.
The #5,405 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 47,949 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname comes from the place-name Abercrombie in Fife, which was the ancestral home of the Barons Abercromby. Older writers also treated the name as a place-description, linking the first element to the common Brittonic/Scottish place-name prefix Aber-, meaning a river mouth or confluence. The second element is more uncertain in the older sources, but the overall sense is of a settlement by a stream junction or wet place.
History
The name is firmly rooted in eastern Scotland and was carried by the Abercromby family of Fife. It later spread beyond Scotland through migration, and the surname is found in English-speaking countries, including North America. The spelling Abercrombie is a well-established English form alongside Abercromby and related variants.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some 19th-century surname writers explained Abercrombie directly from a phrase meaning a 'conflux of the winding stream.'
From the historical record
“gow. ABERCROMBIE. A parish in Fife- sliire, the original residence of the Barons Abercromby, temp. Jas. II. of Scotl. ABERDEEN. A well-known Scottish city. ABERDOUR. A parish of Aberdeen- shire. ABERNETIIEY. A town in the shires of Perth and Fife.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom