Cage
Usually an English locational surname, probably meaning someone who lived by a cage, town cage, or prison-like enclosure.
The #6,345 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 57,473 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually explained as a locational name from Middle English cage, meaning a cage, small enclosure, or place of confinement. In surname use, it likely referred to someone who lived near a town cage or prison rather than to the modern sense of a birdcage. Some older writers also allowed for a place-name or house-name origin, so the exact local reference is not always certain.
History
The name is recorded in medieval England in forms such as atte Cage, which fits a residence-based surname. Later it survived as a relatively uncommon English surname and also appears in spellings influenced by local pronunciation. A few 19th-century authorities suggested a link with a town cage or prison, but they did not treat the derivation as certain.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One old surname dictionary noted that a bearer of Cage might once have lived near a town cage or prison, not necessarily near a bird cage.
From the historical record
“CaBORNE. The same as Cabbuni. CAGE. Possibly from residence near a town cage or prison. CAHOWNE. A Scottish corruption of Colquhoun. CAIRNCROSS. An ancient Scottish local name, met with in charters, and fun- nily latinized Carnea Crux I CAIRNS. NIsbet says, "of that Ilk," but does not mention the locality.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom