Dunford
A surname usually taken from an English place-name, though one older source also treated it as a corruption of Durnford.
The #8,375 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 78,124 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Most modern surname dictionaries treat Dunford as a locational name, from a place called Dunford or from a similar English place-name element. The name is often linked to a stream or ford associated with a hill, or more generally to a ford in a place called Dun- something, though the historical records are not entirely consistent. An older dictionary specifically calls it a corruption of Durnford, so that derivation should be kept in mind as a possibility.
History
The surname is found in England by the 19th century and appears in historical surname distribution lists in places such as Dorsetshire and Yorkshire. Because it is locational, different families may have adopted it independently from different localities or from variant spellings of the same place-name. The form became established enough to survive into modern English-speaking countries, including the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
An older authority flatly labels Dunford a corruption of Durnford, showing how often surname spellings shifted before they standardized.
From the historical record
“DUNDEE. The Scottish town. DUNFORD. A known corruption of Durnford. DUNHAM. Parishes and places in cos. Chester, Nottingham, Norfolli, &c. DUNK. A Dutcli surname, rather common both here and in America. It is probably an epithet implying dark or ob- scure. Du. cIo)i7;c)'. DUNKIN. An Eng. corruption of the”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom