Lim
A surname found in several traditions, most often from a place-name in England or from Asian naming customs where Lim is a common family name.
The #936 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 8,340 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The historical excerpts do not give a single secure origin for Lim. In English surname books, it is sometimes treated as a shortened or altered form of a place-name such as Limber in Lincolnshire, or as a related form to names built on 'limer' or 'lime' in older occupational or local senses. Independently, Lim is also a well-established surname in East and Southeast Asia, especially in Chinese and Korean usage, where it may represent different original characters or spellings behind the same Roman form.
History
English-style Lim is rare and may be an altered local surname, but most modern bearers of Lim in the United States have Asian rather than English origins. In Chinese contexts it is often a romanization of 林, especially in older southern dialect spellings such as Hokkien, and in Korean it can represent the surname Im/Im or Lim depending on romanization practice. Because the same spelling covers several unrelated surname traditions, family history is essential for deciding which origin applies in a given case.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In the U.S., Lim is much more likely to reflect an Asian surname tradition than a medieval English one, even though English surname books also discuss it.
From the historical record
“same individual. ■Willisra Bl. Amye. co. Lint, liM. A. William 61. Amice, co. Line ibil Adam Amy^ cok Camb.. Ibid.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances