Denney
A surname most likely from a place-name, especially the Scottish village of Denny or related local names.
The #2,821 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 24,136 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Denney is generally treated as a locational surname, most often linked to the Scottish place Denny in Stirlingshire. The exact place-name origin is not fully certain, but it is commonly connected with an old local-name element meaning a marshy or low-lying place, or with a regional name later adapted into surname form. Some 19th-century writers also connected forms like Denney with French or continental names, so the surname may have more than one local source in different families.
History
The surname appears in records in medieval and later England, and at least one line was established in Suffolk by the time noted by early surname writers. Some bearers were later associated with migration from France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, showing that the name can reflect different family histories. The spelling Denney sits alongside Denny and other close variants, which were often interchanged in older records.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname writers noted a Suffolk family of Denney holding the manor of Denneys in Coddenham parish in the reign of Edward III.
From the historical record
“TENNISON ; q.v. TENNEY, an unvoiced form of Denney, q.v. TEN N I EL is prob. to be referred to the French (Cher) village - name Theniou (form. Theniot), a dim. f. a dial. var. of chine, ' oak-tree '.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)