Abshire
An English-language surname most likely built from a place-name or older regional name, later fixed in hereditary form in North America.
The #7,010 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 64,618 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Abshire is generally treated as an English surname of locational type, though its exact source is not securely established. It is probably a transferred or altered form of a place-name or older dialectal name, with the first element perhaps reflecting an old personal name or surname base and the second element resembling the English place-name suffix -shire, meaning a county or district. Because the spelling is relatively uncommon and appears to have shifted over time, the precise literal meaning is uncertain.
History
The surname is most visible in the United States, where it is especially associated with families of southern and Appalachian background. Like many surnames whose spellings were stabilized only after migration, it may reflect earlier British or Anglo-Irish forms that were simplified or reshaped in American records. The name is uncommon enough that individual family lines may not share a single recent ancestor, even if they converge on similar spellings.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The spelling with -shire makes the name look like a county name, even though it is used as a family surname.