Born
A surname that can be either a form of Bourn/Bourne, meaning a stream or boundary, or a name taken from the word for being born.
The #5,168 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 45,598 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In English records, Born is often treated as a spelling or simplification of Bourn/Bourne, a surname from Old English burna meaning a stream, brook, or boundary water. In other cases it may also reflect the everyday word born, used as a byname or altered from continental surnames such as German or Dutch Born, from the same Germanic root as English bear/borne. Because these lines of origin can overlap in historical spelling, the surname is best treated as having more than one possible source.
History
Lower explicitly equates Born with Bourn, showing that the surname was understood in 19th-century surname scholarship as a variant form. In modern usage it remains uncommon in the English-speaking world, with bearers spread across Britain, the United States, and countries with Germanic surname traditions. The name’s short form has also made it vulnerable to spelling variation over time.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because Bourn/Bourne names often come from places by a stream, a surname spelled Born can sometimes hide a very old landscape clue.
From the historical record
“BORLEl^ A parish in Essex. BORN. The same as Bourn. BOROUGH. BOROUGHS. See Burgh. BORRADAILE. Borrowdale, a chapelry in Cumberland. BORRELL. See Burrell. BORRER. Tliis name appears In Sussex from the XV. cent, under the forms of”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom