Heath
A topographic surname for someone who lived by or on a heath—an open, uncultivated stretch of land.
The #660 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 5,951 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Heath comes from Old English hǣth, meaning a heath, moorland, or open uncultivated ground. As a surname, it originally identified someone who lived by such land, or perhaps in a place described as "the heath." The name is closely related to older forms seen in medieval records such as Atte-Hethe, Apud Hethe, and De la Hethe.
History
The name is well attested in medieval English records and remains especially common in England. It also appears in related forms such as Heather and Heathcote, both built from the same landscape term. In place-names and surnames alike, "heath" was a very ordinary topographic word that later became a stable hereditary surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower’s 19th-century dictionary explicitly glossed Heath as meaning someone living "at a heath or common."
From the historical record
“tioner ? HEATH. From residence at a heath or commou. In the H.R. Atte-Hethe, Apud Hethe, De la Hethe, &c. — in after times modified to Heather. HEATHCOTE. The baronets trace to the XVI. century in Derb}shire. The name is local, tliough the place is unlvnowu. — " The heath-cottage," or " The cot on the heath."…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom