Diamond
Usually an English surname from a French place-name or baptismal name, though some bearers may have taken it as a nickname or ornamental name.
The #1,670 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 14,303 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest historical clue in the old surname books is that Diamond can come from French Du Mont, meaning “of the hill” or “from the mount,” which was later reshaped in English spelling and pronunciation. Another possible source is an altered form of the personal name Raymond, with Diamond arising through gradual sound change and spelling variation. In some cases it may also have been adopted or recorded as a nickname-like or ornamental surname rather than a straightforward inherited form.
History
Nineteenth-century writers noted Diamond as a name especially well represented in America and also found in parts of England, particularly Kent. One cited early record from Kent identifies a John Diamond baptized in 1612 as the son of a French settler named Du Mont, showing how a foreign surname could be anglicized over time. Because the name can reflect more than one origin, different families named Diamond are not necessarily related.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One Victorian source explicitly says that one Kentish Diamond family descended from a man originally called Du Mont, a French iron-master who settled in England.
From the historical record
“are distinguished in the newspaper-report by the following nick- names in brackets after the name proper : — Toffy, Clogger, Wheel, Stem, Pluck, Diamond, Shrimp, Hutch, Cock, Sweet, Pantry, Few, Pen, Fash, Mike, Willox, Strodger, Daddy, Smiler, Nice, Jenny's, Manty, Fullsea, Music, Owd Ned, Margery, Buskin…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)