Gurney
An English surname most often traced to a Norman place name, Gournay or Gueures, brought to England after the Conquest.
The #7,336 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 67,901 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Gurney is generally taken from a Norman French place name, especially Gournay in Normandy, sometimes linked with Gueures as a related local form. The surname would originally have meant someone who came from that place. Older references also connect it with the Norman family of Gournay, whose name became hereditary among the landed elite after the Norman Conquest.
History
Medieval records show the name in England very early, including a Hugo de Gurnai in Domesday-era material. Later spellings varied widely, including Gurnai, Gournay, and Gurney, as English scribes wrote French names phonetically. The name spread in England and later to Ireland and North America, where Gurney remains the standard modern spelling.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century source notes an early Protestant refugee named Peter Gyrre of Dieppe settling at Rye in 1572, showing how surname forms could shift in refugee communities.
From the historical record
“Gernet. GURNEY. See Gournay. GURR. Probably from Guenres, a vil- lage in Normandy, near Diei^pe. One Peter Gyrre. apothecary, from Dieppe, a Protestant refugee, arrived at Rye, co. Sussex, 1572. Lansd. M.S. 15-70. GURRIER. Perhaps a corruption of the Fr. grierricr, a warrior. GUTHRIE. An estate in Forfarshire,”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom