Cornish
A name for someone from Cornwall, originally used for people who had moved elsewhere.
The #4,410 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 38,353 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Cornish is a regional surname meaning “of Cornwall” or “from Cornwall.” It was originally applied to someone who had moved out of Cornwall into another county, so the name identified a Cornish person by origin. The underlying place-name Cornwall comes from older British roots, but the surname itself is simply the English regional adjective.
History
Historical surname writers note Cornish as a distinctly local Cornish family name, and it appears in records outside Cornwall fairly early as people moved to other parts of England. Lower specifically describes it as a byname for someone who had left Cornwall. In modern use it is established as a surname in both Cornwall and the wider English-speaking world.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Cornish is one of several surnames that began as a straightforward label for a newcomer in another county: literally, “the Cornish one.”
From the historical record
“Durham. CORNISH. Belonging to Cornwall— applied originall}' to one who had removed from that to another county. A family so called at St. Issey in Cornwall, "origin- ally descended from one William Cornish, who settled here temp. Queen Mary, a Welshman.''' D. Gilbert's Cornw., ii. 255. g='CORNlSH SURNAMES. The…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom