Combs
A mainly locational surname from a word for a small valley or hollow, often tied to places called Combe or Coombe.
The #624 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 5,690 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Combs is usually explained as a locational surname from Old English camb, a word used in place-names for a comb, hollow, or sheltered valley in a hillside. In surname use, it most likely began with someone who came from a place called Combe, Coombe, or Combs rather than from the modern object comb. The form with final -s is commonly treated as a later surname ending added to a one-syllable local name.
History
Historical surname dictionaries note many English places named Combe, Coombe, or Combs, and say that several of them gave rise to family names. The spelling Combs appears as one of the common variants alongside Combe, Coombe, and Coombs. It is especially associated with English local-name surnames rather than with occupational or descriptive origins.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Old surname writers specifically remarked that dozens of English place-names are built on this same hillside-hollow word, which helped generate a whole cluster of related surnames.
From the historical record
“stances below refer to the A.5. earub, the crest of a hilL Combs and Combes have taken s __ _ _jEx, as with many other one-syllabled local surnames ; cf. Styles, Brooks, Brig-gs, Holmes, Ac.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances