Dore
Usually a locational surname from places named Dore, though in some cases it may reflect the French word for “golden.”
The #6,662 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 60,837 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In English records, Dore is most often a habitational surname, from places called Dore in Derbyshire and Herefordshire, both of which are noted in older surname dictionaries. Those place-names are usually treated as local names rather than direct word-meanings in the surname itself. A second possible source is French dore, meaning “golden,” which some writers also mention. Because the name can arise from more than one source, the surname is not fully uniform in origin.
History
English surname dictionaries record Dore as a local surname in Britain and later in the United States. The place-name source is strengthened by early references to Dore in Derbyshire and Herefordshire, especially Abbey Dore. Some later compilers also point to French dour/or dore connections, so the surname may have more than one independent origin in different families.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Abbey Dore in Herefordshire gave its name to one of the better-known English place-name sources for the surname.
From the historical record
“(see Theed in Diet.) -1- mdri, famous, &c.] DORE (Fr.) Golden [see Doree in Diet.] DREYFUS "I (Ger.) Trivet, Tripod [Ger. DRE\FUSSj dreifuss; f. O.H.Ger. drt, three + fuoz, foot] A Jewish-Ger. nickname for a^maker ot the article-. No connexion with the place-name Trfives. DRUCKER (Ger.) Printer [f. M.H.Ger.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)