Furlong
An English and Irish surname that may come from the word for a field measurement, with some families also linked to place names.
The #5,158 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 45,518 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In English, Furlong is usually explained from the word furlong, the old land-measure meaning a long strip or division of a field. Some 19th-century writers treated it as an occupational nickname for someone who watched or marked field boundaries. In Ireland, the surname can also reflect Anglicized Irish forms recorded alongside English usage, so not every family with the name has the same origin.
History
The name appears in medieval and later records in forms such as Furlonger and Furlong, showing that the shorter modern spelling is an established reduced form. In England it seems to have been used mainly in rural areas where field divisions were important. In Ireland, the surname is found among native Irish bearers as well as in families that may have adopted the English form independently.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A furlong was traditionally one-eighth of a mile, which is why the word still turns up in horse racing and older land references.
From the historical record
“FURBISHER. See Frobisher. FURLONG. See Furlonger. FURLONGER. a furlong, A-Sax. furUoir/, is a division of a common or tenantry field. It may have been the duty of the "Furlonger " to attend to the boun- daries of such divisions. FURMINGER. A cheese-maker. See Firminger. A Rob. Formagicr, an Anselm le Formgir, and a…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Furlong
- Edward Furlong (b. 1977)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.