Bacon
An old surname with both Norman-local and nickname roots, best known in England as a family name long established after the Conquest.
The #1,181 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 10,340 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Bacon has more than one possible historical source. One line of explanation treats it as a Norman locational name, from a seigniory in Normandy; Lower also notes an old Norman family of Bacon already present in England after the Conquest. Another traditional English explanation connects it with a nickname for a pig or swineherd, reflecting the medieval use of bacon/pig words in bynames.
History
Lower links the English Bacon family to Norman ancestry and says the name was already established in Normandy before appearing in England. Bardsley, however, records medieval bynames such as "le Bacon" and suggests the word could have been used as a sobriquet for a live pig or for a swineherd. As a result, the surname may reflect different origins in different families rather than a single source.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bardsley notes that Bacon appears as a common medieval byname in the Hundred Rolls, which shows the surname was in use very early in English records.
From the historical record
“BACON. A> seigniory in Normandy. According to the genealogy of the great Suflblk family of Bacon, one Grimbald, a relative of the Norman chieftain William de Wareune, came into England at the Conquest, and settled near Holt. His great- grandson is stated to haA'e taken the name of Bacon. This was only a resimiption…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom