Lew
A surname with several possible origins, including a local name for someone who lived by a sheltered place or, less certainly, an old foreign or nickname-based form.
The #4,775 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 41,666 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Lew is historically difficult because early sources point in more than one direction. One line of explanation treats it as a local name from Middle English lew, meaning a sheltered place or lee, a word that may have Scandinavian connections; this is the sense suggested by Bardsley. Lower, however, records an early form in which Lew appears as a Livonian name, and also notes early medieval forms such as de Lew in Domesday-related material, which may reflect a different source altogether. Because the evidence is mixed, Lew is best treated as an old surname with more than one possible origin depending on the family line.
History
The name appears in medieval records in several spellings and contexts, including forms with de, which can signal either a place-based name or a foreign-origin surname. Some early examples are associated with Domesday-era landholders and with continental or regional forms that do not clearly match the English local-name explanation. The surname remains relatively uncommon in modern use.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bardsley connects Lew with Lewthwaite, a Cumberland surname interpreted as meaning roughly 'sheltered meadow.'
From the historical record
“LEW 194 LID LETT. A Livonlan. One Let was a tenant in co. Gloucester before the Conquest. Domesday.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom