Caviness
An English and Scottish surname most likely built from a place-name or an older nickname form, now especially found in the United States.
The #9,407 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 89,336 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Caviness is probably a later surname form built from a place-name, or from an older personal-name or nickname basis that has been altered by regional pronunciation. The ending -ness does not by itself give a secure meaning here; in surnames it can reflect a local or phonetic development rather than the modern English abstract suffix. Because there is no single well-attested dictionary derivation for this exact spelling, the safest reading is that it belongs to the broad class of surnames that changed shape over time in English-speaking regions.
History
The name is uncommon and is most often encountered in the United States today, where many such surnames were carried by families from Britain and then preserved in altered spellings. In genealogical records, forms like this are often the result of spelling stabilization in the 19th century rather than a single original orthography. Without an early documentary trail, its precise source area remains hard to pin down.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Uncommon surnames like Caviness often preserve regional pronunciation more clearly than spelling, which can make them valuable clues in family-history research.