Binns
Usually a locational surname, most likely meaning someone from a place called Binns or a nearby district in northern Britain.
The #7,923 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 73,898 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Binns is generally taken from a place-name rather than from a personal characteristic or occupation. The historical sources point to a locality in or near southern Scotland, especially the Linlithgow/Roxburgh area, and Bardsley also treats it as a local surname. The ending -s may reflect a place-name form or a genitive/locative spelling used in medieval records.
History
Medieval spellings such as Johannes de Bynnes show the name in use by the late 1300s. Later English and Scottish records place it especially in northern England and the Scottish border counties, and Bardsley notes that it ramified strongly in Yorkshire. The name is still most familiar in Britain and in communities descended from British migrants.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
An early record, Johannes de Bynnes (1379), preserves a medieval spelling that still clearly shows the name’s place-based origin.
From the historical record
“shii-e. BINNS. A 2^Iace in Abercon, co. Lin- lithgow. BIRBECK. A district of Westmore- land, BIRCH. Parishes and chapelries in cos. Essex, Hereford, and Lancaster. BIRCHAM. Three parishes in Noi folk. BIRCHENSTY. An estate in Sussex,”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom