Garfield
An English surname likely from a place-name meaning “open or prepared field,” though some early sources linked it to a more speculative sense of “furnished field.”
The #7,492 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 69,428 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is usually treated as a locational name built from elements meaning “field” and a qualifying first element that older writers tried to explain in different ways. One 19th-century source analyzed it as a compound of a word meaning “ready, prepared” plus “field,” giving the sense of a field suited or made ready for use. Later writers grouped it with other place-based surnames ending in -field, but the exact original place or original sense is not securely established from the available evidence.
History
The name appears in English surname discussions in the 19th century, especially in American usage lists, but it was never among the most common surnames. Because the early etymology is uncertain, modern references tend to treat Garfield cautiously as a place-derived English surname rather than a definitively explained occupational or descriptive name. The surname is best known in the United States through President James A. Garfield, which helped make the name more recognizable than its relatively modest numbers would suggest.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
James A. Garfield, the 20th U.S. president, made this relatively uncommon surname far more familiar to Americans.
From the historical record
“GARENNIER. (Fr.) A warrener, a keeper of a warren. GARFIELD. Local Sax., Garwian, to prepare; German and Dutch, gar, dressed, done, ready prepared, and field, a place where every thing is furnished necessary for an army. GARNET. LocaL Garnedd, Welsh, a tumulus; an ancient place of Druid worship. Carnedd, a cairn.…”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names