Herndon
A place-based surname likely meaning “the cottage in the valley,” from an English locality name.
The #1,871 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 16,095 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Herndon is generally explained as a habitational surname from an English place-name built from elements meaning “cottage” or “hern” and “dene/denn,” a valley or low-lying woodland. In the 19th-century source provided, it is interpreted as “the cottage in the valley.” The exact local place behind the surname is not identified in the excerpt, so the derivation should be treated as traditional rather than fully certain.
History
Like many English locational surnames, Herndon would have been adopted by people who moved away from the place they were named after. The name is well established in the United States, where it later became more visible through migration and family lines rather than through a large number of people overall. The same source family also notes related forms such as Herne and Hernshaw, showing the older habitational pattern behind the name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname appears in the name of Captain William Lewis Herndon, the U.S. naval officer remembered for the 1857 loss of the steamer Central America while rescuing passengers.
From the historical record
“man. HERNDON. Local. From Herne, a cottage, and den, a val- ley. The cottage in the valley. HERNE. May come from the Saxon Hern, a cottage. HERNSHAW. Local. Frtmi hern, a kind of fowl, a hern, and shaw, a shady inclosure, a place where herns breed. HERON. (Welsh.) A hero. HERR. (German.) Sire, lord, master.”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names