Bibb
An English surname most likely from a pet form or nickname, though some old sources also connect it with a bird-related nickname.
The #8,655 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 81,334 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Bibb is usually treated as a short nickname form rather than a place-name or occupation. One 19th-century source links it with a bird-related nickname, while another suggests it may belong with old pet-name forms built from short, repeated sounds such as Bibbo or Bibby. The evidence is not fully consistent, so the exact original sense is uncertain.
History
The name is well attested in England and later appears in North American records. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century surname writers grouped Bibb with other short, diminutive-sounding names, showing how often such names were explained by nickname habits rather than a single fixed root. In the United States, it is best known historically from the Bibb family of Alabama, including the first Governor of Alabama, William W. Bibb.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname Bibb helped make the name famous in Alabama through the Bibb family, which includes an early state governor and namesake for Bibb County.
From the historical record
“BIBB 104 BIBTLBS Bird.— Nick. < the bird/ perhaps from the singing propensities of the original bearer ; cf. ' He sings”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)