Deal
Usually a locational surname from Deal, the town in Kent, though in some cases it may be a variant or corruption of Dale.
The #1,760 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 15,160 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is most commonly explained as referring to the town of Deal in Kent, England. The name can therefore identify someone who came from that place or who was known by that association. Some older sources also suggest that Deal may occasionally be a spelling change or corruption of Dale, another English locational surname meaning a valley.
History
Lower’s 19th-century dictionary explicitly gives Deal as “the town in Kent,” while noting that it is sometimes a corruption of Dale. That means the surname may have more than one origin in actual family lines. The name appears in English records as a straightforward place-based surname and is now found in the English-speaking world, especially in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The town of Deal is on the Kent coast, so the surname may point back to a seaside origin rather than the more common valley-based surname Dale.
From the historical record
“DEAKIN. The same as Dakiu. DEAL. The town in Kent. Sometimes a corrui^tion of Dale. DEALCHA]\IBER. A corruption of De la Chambre. DEALTRY. See Hawtrey. DEAN. DEANE. A-Sax. denu, a valo or plain. Atte Dene is the common form in old times, implying residence at such a place. Tliere arc, however, eighteen pa-”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom