Cheney
A surname of Norman place-name origin, probably meaning someone from a locality named for oak trees or a similar rural feature.
The #2,655 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 22,747 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Cheney is generally treated as a Norman locational surname. In the historical dictionaries, it is linked to places in Normandy such as Quesnay, and also possibly Cahagnes in Calvados. The place-name itself is usually connected with Old French words for an oak grove or oaks, though the exact source is not entirely certain and older writers sometimes offered competing explanations.
History
The name appears in England after the Norman Conquest, borne by families connected with landholding in counties such as Sussex, Cambridgeshire, Shropshire, and Suffolk. Medieval records show many spellings and related forms, including Cheyne, Cheyney, Chaney, and Chany. The surname later spread widely in England and then to North America and other English-speaking regions.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older reference works sometimes Latinized the name in several different ways, including forms based on a supposed oak-grove meaning.
From the historical record
“secrated bisho23 of Waterford, 1715. CHENEY. From Quesnay In the canton of Montmartin, department of La Manche, Normandy. De Gerville, ]\Icm. Soc. Antiq. Normandie, 1825 ; butMr.Walfordwith more probability derives the family fromCahagnes in the department of Calvados, a village of 2000 inhabitants, lying S.W. of…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom