Burrow
A surname usually taken from someone who lived near a borough, hill, or earthwork, or from a place-name with that sense.
The #4,707 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 40,953 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Burrow is generally linked to Old English words for a fortified place or borough, and in some cases to terms for a hill, mound, or earthwork. In surname use, it most often began as a locational name: someone identified as being "at the borough" or from a nearby settlement. Older writers also noted its overlap with place-names and with dialect forms related to burrows or small hills, so more than one local source may lie behind the surname.
History
The name appears in medieval and later records in several spellings, including Burrow, Burrough, and Burrows. It was especially common as a local surname in England, where it could be attached to people living near a borough or in a place called Burrow or Burrough. In some families it later developed the added final -s seen in Burrows, a common surname pattern.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers often grouped Burrow with names like Bury and Borough, treating them as very close relatives in meaning.
From the historical record
“Btm^l; V. Borrell. Bnnougfa, Burronghea, Bnr- rougho. Burrow, Burroweo, Burrom.— Local, 'at the bor- ough ' ; V. Bury, llie flnal ningS) Jones, Simonds, &c”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances