Eagle
A surname from the bird name “eagle,” often first used for someone at a sign of the Eagle or for a person thought to be lofty, bold, or “soaring.”
The #4,261 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 37,087 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Eagle comes from the common bird name, ultimately from Latin aquila through Old French aigle. In English surname use, it could arise as a topographic or sign-based name for someone living at or near an inn or house marked by the Eagle, or as a nickname for a person seen as lofty, proud, or ambitious. Some early writers also linked it with heraldic or legendary associations, though the simplest explanation is usually the bird-name origin.
History
The surname is recorded in forms such as Eagle and Egles, and historical dictionaries note both sign-name and nickname senses. It may also overlap in some cases with French and Norman forms such as De Aquila, which were later Anglicized or independently associated with the same word. Because the bird was a common heraldic emblem and inn sign, the name could arise in more than one way.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower noted that the eagle was such a familiar heraldic figure and inn sign that it could easily generate surnames in several different ways.
From the historical record
“suppression of the letter D. EAGLE. EAGLES. EGLES. Meta- phorically applied to a person of ambitious or soaring disposition. There are several legendary stories of eagles which may have originated the name; e. (j. that of De Aquila mentioned in this Dictionary, and the well-known Stanley tradition. See Curiosities…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom