Asbury
A surname usually treated as a place-name surname, probably referring to Ashbury or a similar English locality.
The #4,157 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 36,229 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Asbury is generally explained as a locational surname, most likely from Ashbury, an English place-name. The place-name is usually taken to mean something like "ash-tree hill/fort" or "ash-tree manor/settlement," from Old English elements for "ash" and a settlement or fortified site. Some older sources also connect it loosely with other similar-looking place-names such as Astbury, but Ashbury is the likeliest source named in the historical dictionaries.
History
The surname appears in English records as a place-derived name and later spread to other English-speaking regions, including North America. Historical surname dictionaries often cite the form as a variant or reduced spelling of Ashbury. The name is also familiar in America through the Methodist preacher Francis Asbury, which helped make it recognizable outside Britain.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Francis Asbury, one of the first two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States, made the surname widely known in America.
From the historical record
“Hirendale, Norm. 1198; also F Hugt. n., Lond. 1618 Asbury. From Ashbury; a loc. r , Berks, Devon. Or see Astbury Ascoith. See Askew Ascott. A loc. n., Cornw. Ash. See Dash”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)