Barnett
Usually a surname from the place name Barnet in Hertfordshire, though some older writers also treated it as a form of Barnard.
The #324 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 3,227 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Barnett is most often explained as a habitational surname from Barnet, a place name in Hertfordshire. The place name itself is generally taken to mean the "cleared land" or "barn clearing," from Old English roots related to a barn and a clearing or pasture. Some 19th-century surname writers also suggested that Barnett could sometimes be a provincial pronunciation or corruption of Barnard, so the surname may have more than one historical source in some families.
History
The name is well established in England and appears in older county and directory records, especially in southern and eastern England. It also shows up in Jewish naming contexts in some historical sources, which suggests that the surname was adopted or recorded in more than one community. In the United States it became common enough to rank well within the top 500 surnames by 2010.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A historical surname handbook notes that Barnett was sometimes treated as a name connected with the Hertfordshire town of Barnet, but another old writer thought many bearers were actually using a modified form of Barnard.
From the historical record
“in CO. Surrey. See however Barn. BARNETT. A town in Hertfordshire, and parishes in that co. and in iliddlesex and Lincoln. In many instances the name Barnard is so corrupted. It is — why I know not — a common name among the Jews. BARNEWALL. Lord Trimlestown's ancestor, De Bernvale, accompanied Wil- liam the…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Barnett
- Ida B. Wells (1862–1931)
- Grace Slick (b. 1939)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.