Burbank
A surname most likely built from the words for a fortified hill or bank, though its exact origin is uncertain.
The #6,480 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 58,921 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Burbank is probably an English place-name surname built from Old English elements meaning "fortified place" or "fortress" plus "bank" or "slope." In practice, that makes the name look topographical or locational: someone who lived near a fortified bank or came from a place called Burbank. The historical record does not give a single secure derivation, so the name is best treated as traditional English in form but not fully settled in meaning.
History
The surname appears in English and later American records, but the excerpts provided only mention it in passing rather than explaining its origin. The best-known modern bearer is the American horticulturist Luther Burbank, which helped make the name familiar in the United States. Because the etymology is not firmly documented in the excerpts, the name should be treated cautiously rather than as fully proven.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Burbank is also the name of a city in California, though the place name and the surname are not always directly connected.
From the historical record
“DuRivAGE, Bellerive, Strand, Capewell, Haven, Havens, Banks, Burbank and Burbanks, Fair- bank and Fairbanks, Millbank and Millbanks, Wells and Welles, Caldayell (i.e., "cold well"), Caswell, Chadwell, Cranwell, Craswell, Elwell, Horswell and Horsewell (L. 713, f. 291), Lepen- WELL, Lowell, Roswell, Condit, &c.…”
— Suffolk Surnames (3rd ed.)