Fortney
A surname most likely from a place name or an altered spelling of a similar-sounding Germanic name.
The #6,914 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 63,620 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Fortney is not one of the classic inherited surnames with a single well-attested origin, and it is best treated cautiously. In many cases it is thought to be an Americanized or altered form of a name built from a place-name element or from a Germanic surname that was reshaped in English spelling. The first element may relate to "fort" or to a Germanic personal-name element, while the final -ney can reflect an English place-name ending or a phonetic spelling choice.
History
The name is found mainly in the United States, where spelling variation and name adaptation were common among immigrant families. It may have developed independently in more than one family line, which is one reason no single origin is certain. Like many less-common surnames, its modern distribution does not by itself prove a single ancestral source.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because Fortney has several plausible pathways, two unrelated families with the same spelling may not share the same earliest ancestor.