Covert
A topographic surname for someone who lived by a sheltered wood or game thicket.
The #4,236 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 36,892 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Covert comes from the Middle English word covert, meaning a sheltered place, thicket, or hiding place, especially one that protected deer. The term itself goes back through Anglo-French and Old French to the idea of something covered or protected. As a surname, it was used for people identified by residence near such a place.
History
19th-century surname writers noted Covert as a local name in Surrey and Sussex, and Lower linked it with prominent families in those counties. The surname appears in medieval records in forms such as de Covert, showing the place-based style of naming. It also later spread beyond southern England through normal family migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early writers connected the word with game preserves: a covert was literally a thicket where deer could hide.
From the historical record
“a township in Lancashire. COVERT. " Coverts," says Nelson, " are those woods which are thickets, and full of trees toucliing one another .... a covering or hiding-place for deer." Laws of Game. The great Surrey and Sussex family of Covert, whose contiguous manors are said to have extended from Southwark to the…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom