Bushnell
A habitational surname probably referring to a bushy, wooded place or a house in the wood.
The #6,542 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 59,649 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually treated as a place-based name, built from elements meaning “bush” or “wood” plus a term for a hill, knoll, or dwelling-place. One older explanation connects it with Dutch forms such as a “wood-mark” or “house in the wood,” while another links it to an English local name for a bushy or uncultivated place. In short, the name likely meant someone who came from, or lived near, a wooded or overgrown location.
History
Bushnell appears in England as a surname tied to local place-names, and later turns up in North America through English migration. The name is well known in the United States through figures such as the theologian Horace Bushnell, which helped keep it visible in public life. Older genealogical writers sometimes gave different etymologies, so the exact origin may vary by family line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers treated Bushnell as related to several other “woodland” names, showing how often old etymologists grouped surnames by landscape imagery.
From the historical record
“abouts. There are several places by this name in England. BUSHNELL. (Dutch.) Bossen-hatt, a faggot or wood-mar- ket, or a hall or mansion in the wood. BUSHWELL. Local. Bushwild. From lush and well, wild, wold, a wood, a lawn, or plain; an uncultivated bushy place ; Bushfeldt, the bushy field. BUSK. (Swed.) From…”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names