Khoury
A surname from a word meaning “priest,” widely used among Arabic-speaking Christians and some others of the Levant.
The #5,980 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 53,667 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Khoury comes from Arabic khūrī / khūrī, a title meaning “priest,” ultimately associated with Syriac usage in Christian communities of the Near East. In many families it began as an honorific or descriptive name for a priest or priestly household, then became hereditary as surnames became fixed. The word is especially common in Lebanon, Syria, and neighboring Levantine regions.
History
As a surname, Khoury is strongly associated with Christian families from the Levant, especially Maronite and other Arabic-speaking Christian communities. It spread widely through emigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, so it is now found in North and South America, Europe, and Australia as well as the Middle East. In some cases it was also written in different transliterations depending on the language of immigration records.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because the name is tied to a religious title, it is one of the many surnames that preserve a clerical role long after the original meaning stopped being literal for most families.