Fellows
A surname from Middle English meaning “companion” or “comrade,” originally a possessive form of the word fellow.
The #4,469 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 38,846 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Fellows comes from Middle English fellow, meaning a companion, associate, or comrade. The surname is usually understood as a genitive or possessive form of that word, essentially meaning “of the fellow” or “the fellow’s.” In older usage, fellow could also describe a young unmarried man or a servant, which may have helped shape the nickname.
History
The name is well attested in medieval and later English records as a descriptive surname. It belongs to the large class of surnames formed from everyday nicknames and social terms, like Goodfellow or Longfellow. The spelling Fellows became established as a common family name in England and later spread to North America and other English-speaking regions.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bardsley notes that Fellows is the genitive form of fellow, making it one of many surnames that began as a simple label for a person’s character or place in society.
From the historical record
“body.' Heacock and nescock /ere effeminate fellows. In ' Wit irithout Money,' Valentine says, For then you are meacocks, fools, nd miserable.' ' And shall I then, eiogfedwith this hope, prove such mecocke.oramilkesopl' Greene's”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances