Caulfield
A surname often explained as a habitational name from a lost or altered place-name, with some evidence of later anglicized or variant forms.
The #8,617 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 80,866 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is usually treated as a place-based surname, but the exact source is not fully secure. One early explanation connects it with a Norman French form, while another points to an English place-name such as Chalfield in Wiltshire; older spellings like Calvel, Calfield, and Cavell suggest that the modern form may preserve several overlapping traditions. Because the evidence is fragmentary, the safest reading is that Caulfield developed as an anglicized locational surname from a name that was reshaped over time.
History
The surname appears in historical records with a range of spellings, including forms such as Calfield and Cavill, showing that it was not fixed early on. Later scholarship often treats it as a variant or altered spelling tied to a place-name, and the modern form became established chiefly in English-speaking areas. In Ireland and North America it is also found among later bearers, but the available excerpts do not support a single, definitive line of descent for all families named Caulfield.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers disagreed enough about Caulfield that it was sometimes cross-referenced under several different nearby forms rather than given one settled explanation.
From the historical record
“W. C. Camb. 1272, Rot. Hund. Caulfield. N.-Fr. de Calvel Caville ; p.n. Jas. Calfhill, Calvel, or Calfield, I ofWorcs. 1506 Caunt. See Gaunt”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)