Ginn
A surname with more than one possible origin, including Irish Mac Ginn and English forms related to Genn or Ginner.
The #4,396 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 38,173 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name Ginn is most often treated as an English surname, but historical sources also connect it with the Irish Mac Ginn. In English records it may be a shortened or softened form of Genn, or a variant of Ginner, an old occupational word for a craftsman or engineer. Some 19th-century writers also suggested a link with the old word gin in the sense of a trap or device, though that is less certain as a surname origin.
History
The surname appears in English and Irish name traditions, and the historical record does not point to a single secure source for every family. In some cases it may have been reduced from Mac Ginn or related Irish forms; in others it likely developed independently from English nicknames or occupational names. Modern bearers are found mainly in English-speaking countries, especially the United States and the UK.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One old dictionary glossed Ginner as an engineer or craftsman, showing how closely surname origins can be tied to vanished job words.
From the historical record
“GIN.AIAN. See Ginner. GINN. GIN. Perhaps the same as Genn, with the G softened. GINNER. NoAv more nsually spelt Jennev. Old English gbwur, an engineer, a craftsman. Le Engynur, Le Ginnur, H.R. The word ' gin' is retained hi our version of the Old Testament, and occurs in many old writers, in the bad sense of a…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom