Horning
Usually a locational surname, probably meaning someone from a place called Horning, especially the Norfolk village of that name.
The #4,820 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 42,167 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is generally taken from the place name Horning in Norfolk, which is recorded in early English sources. The place-name element is usually explained as an Old English formation, though the exact original sense is not fully certain from these excerpts. Some 19th-century writers also compared it with old Germanic personal-name forms containing Horn-, but the place-name explanation is the clearest for the surname.
History
Lower explicitly lists Horning as a parish in Norfolk, and later surname writers treat it alongside other English local surnames. Because there is also a Norfolk place called Horningsea and related forms in historical records, the name has a strong East Anglian geographic association. In modern use it survives mainly as an English and American surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The name appears in older surname studies right next to other Norfolk-based names, which is a good clue that it has strong local roots rather than a purely nickname origin.
From the historical record
“HORNIBLOAV. Possibly a corruption of Hornblower. HORNING. A parish in Norfolk. HORNSEY. A parish in Middlesex. HORNYOLD. The first recorded an- cestor is John de H., temp. Edw. III. Local — place unknown. HORSECRAFT. The horse-croft, an enclosure for horses. HORSELL. A parish in Surrey.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom