Chew
A surname usually from a place name, especially Chew in Somerset or possibly Cheux in Normandy.
The #3,988 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 34,671 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Chew is a locational surname, meaning someone was identified by a place called Chew. The name may refer to the Somerset parishes of Chew Magna and Chew Stoke, or, in some cases, to Cheux near Caen in Normandy. Older surname dictionaries also treat it as a place-name surname rather than a nickname or occupation.
History
The surname appears in English records as a local-name byname and later as a fixed family name. Because both English and Norman place-name explanations were current in older scholarship, the surname may have independent origins in more than one place. It is now established as a relatively uncommon surname in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Chew is one of those surnames where a tiny place name can travel far: a parish name in Somerset gave rise to a family name that later appears in the US census.
From the historical record
“a goat-herd. CHEW. A parish of Somerset. Cheux, a village near Caen in Normandy. CHBYNE. CHEYNEY. CHEYNELL. IModifications of Cheney, which see. CHICH. A parish in Essex. St. Osyth — Chich. CHICHELEY. A parish in co. Bucks.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom