Lavender
A surname that most likely began as an occupational name for a washerman or washerwoman, not the flower.
The #4,583 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 39,869 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Lavender is generally explained as coming from Old French lavandier, meaning a washerman or laundry worker. That occupational term was used in medieval English record-keeping and later shifted into surname form. Although the spelling now matches the name of the herb, the surname is usually unrelated to the plant.
History
Historical surname dictionaries note that Lavender could shorten or alter into forms such as Launder and Lander, showing how the older occupational word was reshaped in English. Some writers also suggested a locational link to Lavendon in Buckinghamshire, but the occupational explanation is the better-attested one in the sources provided. The name appears in English records by the medieval and early modern periods and has remained relatively uncommon.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early commentators liked to warn that the surname Lavender does not “mean what it says”: it has nothing to do with the garden plant in its usual family-name origin.
From the historical record
“also Levache and Koe. LAVENDER. This Is one of the nume- rous instances occurring in our family nomenclature of a name's 'not meaning what it says.' As we have many surnames derived from the vegetable kingdom, this might well be associated with the well- known garden herb ; but it comes from an entirely different…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom