Birch
A surname from the birch tree, often originally marking someone who lived by birch trees or a birch grove.
The #2,954 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 25,388 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Birch comes from Old English beorc, meaning “birch tree.” As a surname, it most likely began as a habitational name for someone who lived near birch trees, a birch grove, or a place named for them. Related place-names and forms such as Birkhead, Birkett, and Burch in older records point to the same tree-based root.
History
The surname is found in English place-based naming, especially in areas with birch-named localities or landscape features. In some cases it may also have been reinforced by residence near a notable birch wood or plantation. The related spelling Burch appears as a historical variant, and the name has remained steadily English in character.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower’s 19th-century surname dictionary explicitly links Birch with English parishes and chapelries named Birch in Essex, Herefordshire, and Lancashire.
From the historical record
“land, BIRCH. Parishes and chapelries in cos. Essex, Hereford, and Lancaster. BIRCHAM. Three parishes in Noi folk. BIRCHENSTY. An estate in Sussex, contracted to Birsty, BIRD. See Birds. ^^BIPiDS, Names of, n-lncli. liave hccom.e”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom