Blessing
A surname that began as a nickname or devotional name based on the word for a blessing or favor.
The #6,449 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 58,663 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Blessing comes from the common English word ‘blessing,’ meaning a prayer for favor or a state of good fortune. As a surname, it was likely first used either for someone associated with religious blessing, or as a nickname for a person thought to bring good luck or favor. In some German-speaking families, the surname may also reflect the same idea through equivalent forms built from the word for a blessing.
History
The name appears in English-language records in the modern period and is also found among German and Anglo-American families. Historical surname compilers noted Blessing alongside other surnames formed from good wishes, such as Bless and Blest. In Irish contexts, one 20th-century source records Blessing as a name used synonymously with Mulvanerty in parts of County Leitrim, suggesting local adoption or substitution in some districts.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th- and early-20th-century surname collectors grouped Blessing with names that are literally words of goodwill, a reminder that some surnames began as expressions rather than occupations or places.
From the historical record
“emigrant's name. 1635, * Imbarqued in the Blessing* for New England, Thomas Trentum, aged 14 years : Hotten*s Lists of Emigrants, p. 108. 1747. Married ~ James Trentam (co.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)