Case
A surname that may come from a word meaning “chance” or “fortune,” though some bearers may also descend from other local or occupational origins.
The #885 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 7,852 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Case is recorded in medieval English sources and, according to early surname scholarship, may come from Anglo-Norman cas, meaning “chance” or “hazard.” In that reading, it would have started as a nickname for someone associated with luck, an incident, or some notable circumstance. The name may also have other local or reduced-form origins in some families, so the derivation is not completely certain.
History
Early writers noted the name in medieval records and suggested a Norman-French origin. In later family tradition, one Devonshire line explained it through an abandoned foundling, which fits the general idea of an unusual personal circumstance behind the name. The surname is now well established in English-speaking countries, especially the United States and Britain.
Origin
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Fun fact
An old surname dictionary explicitly compared Case to the better-known surname Hazard, treating both as names that could arise from the idea of luck or chance.
From the historical record
“Normandy. CASE. This name is found in the H.R. and may be the Anglo-Norman cas, chance, hazard — probably with reference to the char.acter, or some incident in the life, of the first person who bore it. So Hazai'd has become a family name. A family in Devonshire thus designated ac- count for it by a tradition that…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom