Horne
A surname that can come from a place name, a sign at a horn, or in some Cornish cases from a local place-name tied to an iron-rich pool.
The #921 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 8,192 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Horne is a name with more than one possible source. In English records it can be locational, from places called Horne, or topographic, from someone living "at the horn"—that is, by a horn-shaped feature or a house marked with a horn sign. In Cornwall, a related family-name tradition connects some forms, especially Polkinghorne, to a place-name meaning roughly "pool with iron" or "chalybeate pool."
History
Medieval records show the surname in several English counties, including Kent and Wiltshire, and early spellings already suggest both place-based and descriptive uses. The Cornish branch is especially well known through Polkinghorne and related forms, whose local origin was noted by 19th-century Cornish surname scholars. Today Horne is fairly widespread in English-speaking countries, with the simplified form Horne alongside related surnames such as Horn.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 19th-century Cornish source derived Polkinghorne from a place-name meaning a "pool with iron," suggesting a medicinal iron spring or pool.
From the historical record
“POLKINGHORNE, POLKINHORN, POLKIN- HORNE, POLKENHORN, POLGANHORN. From Polkinghome in Gwinnear ; from pol-gan-hoarn^ a pool with (containing) iron, t. «., a chalyheate pool, a medicinal pool. Hence, by contraction, the name Polkom. POLKORN. See Polkikghobne. POLLAMOUNTAIN. See Pollamounteb. POLLAMOUNTER, var.…”
— Patronymica Cornu-Britannica; or, the etymology of Cornish surnames