Chestnut
A surname that can point to a chestnut tree, or in America sometimes to an adapted form of a German Jewish name.
The #4,478 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 38,963 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname has more than one possible source. In English, it can be a topographical name for someone who lived by a chestnut tree or a chestnut grove. The name may also reflect an Americanized or translated form of the German Jewish surname Kestenbaum, meaning "chestnut tree," and some older writers also linked it with German names such as Bohm/Behm through re-formation in English-speaking countries.
History
English surname dictionaries describe Chestnut as very rare in England, but present in America. Early 20th-century writers noted that in the United States it could arise either as a tree-based surname or as an adaptation of Jewish German names meaning "chestnut tree." The spelling Chestnut is the standard modern form, with Chesnut as a common variant.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname writers grouped Chestnut with other tree-and-plant surnames such as Oak, Ash, Crabtree, and Nash.
From the historical record
“from residence by a cherry-tree ; cf. Crabtree, Chestnut, Oake, Ash, Nash, ftc. M.E. chtty or thin. William Chine. CO, Derby, lajs. A. William Chery, C. R., 31 Hen.^fL IS6CJ. MarTied-William Cherve and Alyce Foie ; St. Michael, Cornhiil, p. lu.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances