Bonney
A surname most likely from the Old French name Bony, linked to a place in northern France.
The #7,413 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 68,748 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest historical explanation is that Bonney comes from Bony, a place near Péronne in northern France. In that view, it began as a locational surname for someone who came from that place. Some 19th-century writers also connected it with French bon/bonne, meaning “good,” which may have helped later spellings and associations.
History
The name appears in English records and was discussed by several surname scholars in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Baring-Gould specifically gives Bonney as deriving from Bony near Péronne, while other writers noted the surname’s similarity to bonny and bonne. The form is now established in English-speaking countries, especially the United States and Britain.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because it sounds like the adjective bonny, the surname has often been associated with “handsome” or “pleasant,” even when its true origin is geographic.
From the historical record
“Boussey in Cote-d'Or. BONNEY, from Bony, near Peronne. BOSWELL derives from Bosville, in Seine-Infe'rieure. BOUTELL, the name of an authority on brasses and on heraldry, has naught to do with bottles, but derives from Boutailles in Dordogne. A migrant during the Hundred Years' War and the Plantagenet possession of…”
— Family Names and their Story