Lines
A surname that may have arisen from a place name or from an older word for a boundary, bank, or shore.
The #9,368 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 88,924 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Lines is likely to be locational or topographic in origin, but the exact source is not certain. It may relate to an older word for a line or boundary, or to a place-name element referring to a bank, brink, or shore; some 19th-century writers also connect similar forms with northern place-names influenced by Old Norse. Because the spelling is short and common, it could also reflect contraction or variation from a longer local surname in some families.
History
The name appears in English records in several spellings, and like many medieval surnames it could settle from more than one local source. In modern usage it is established in Britain and the United States, though not especially common. Historical surname writers did not agree on one single derivation, which suggests multiple independent origins may be possible.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 19th-century surname dictionary noted that some forms associated with this name-family could be tied to words meaning a bank, brink, or shore.
From the historical record
“prob. local [O.N. ties, a promontory]. Bardsleynotedthe occurrence of 'WiUiam de Maukurneys' in the Hund. Rolls (Lines), and- the same spelling is found in a York- shire roll of 1 324-5. Guppy (' Tfie! Homes of Family-Names,' p-agg) found that the ' name in theform Mackaness was peculiarly a Northamptonshire surname.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)