Davenport
A habitational surname meaning “from Davenport,” a place-name in Cheshire.
The #608 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 5,524 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Davenport is a locational surname from the Cheshire place called Davenport, in the parish of Astbury. The place-name is usually explained as meaning “Dægeferth’s port” or “the port by the stream,” but the surname sources here mainly support the simpler sense “of Davenport.” In modern surname use, the name identifies someone whose family originally came from that locality.
History
Medieval records show the name early in Cheshire, and the surname later spread well beyond its original home. Bardsley notes that it branched out in a remarkable way, with spellings such as Davenport and Devonport appearing in later records. Lower also treats Devonport as a corruption of Davenport rather than a separate surname origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower specifically argued that the surname Devonport was not an independent origin but a later reshaping of Davenport.
From the historical record
“London, 1 1 Crockfoid, J ; New York, a. Davenport, Davenport, De- vonport.— Local, 'of ftivenport,' a township in the parish ofAslbury, East Cheshire. The surname has ramiSed in a remarkable manner. The variants recorded above seem”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instancesNotable people named Davenport
- Lindsay Davenport (b. 1976)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.