English
A surname that originally identified someone as English by nationality or origin.
The #748 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 6,655 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname comes from a word meaning 'English' and was first used as an identifying byname for someone distinguished from Normans, Welsh, or other groups. In medieval records it could mark a person as 'the English one' or someone who came from England in a mixed-population setting. The form ultimately goes back to Old English and early medieval uses of 'Englisc' for the language and people of England.
History
Bardsley and Lower both treat English as an old descriptive surname, not as an occupational or place-name form. Lower notes an early Norman-period use of the name as an additional identifier for people distinguished by nationality. Like many such ethnonyms, it later became hereditary and spread widely across England and then overseas.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower cites a Domesday-era example of 'quatuor Angli'—literally 'four Englishmen'—showing how early such labels could be used as identifiers.
From the historical record
“OF ENGLISH AND WELSH SURNAMES ' WITH SPECIAL AMERICAN INSTANCES BY THE LATE CHARLES WAREING BARDSLEY, M.A. WOKCBSTBK COLLEGE, OXFORD”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances