Eastman
An English surname with debated origins, probably from an old personal name like Estmund/Eastmund or, less likely, from an eastern ethnic label such as Easterling.
The #2,162 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 18,388 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname has more than one proposed explanation. One line of scholarship connects it with the old personal name Estmund or Eastmund, with the second element -mund meaning “protection” and later surviving in forms like Esmond; another older view treats it as related to Eastman in the sense of an “easterner” or “man from the east.” The evidence in the historical dictionaries is not fully consistent, so the name is best treated as probably English in origin but not securely fixed to a single source-meaning.
History
Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century surname writers disagreed over whether Eastman came from a personal name or from a directional/ethnic label. Bardsley leans toward Estmund, while Lower gives an alternate explanation tied to Easterling. The surname is recorded in England and later appears in North America, where it is now best known through Anglo-American bearers.
Origin
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Fun fact
The same old name element that may underlie Eastman is also thought to survive in the surname Esmond.
From the historical record
“wich, &c. EASTMAN. Probably synonymous with Easterling, which see. EASTO. Perhaps a corruption of East- hope. EASTOX. Like Norton, Sutton, Weston, in its origin, meaning an enclosure or homestead, lying relatively toM-ards the cast. Besides minor districts and farms, there are seventeen parishes, hamlets, tythings…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom