Lombard
A surname for someone from Lombardy, later also linked to moneylending and Italian merchant communities.
The #5,875 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 52,570 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Lombard originally meant “a person from Lombardy,” the region in northern Italy. The name comes from the Latinized ethnonym for the Lombards, a Germanic people who settled in Italy and gave the region its name. In medieval English usage, the word also came to be associated with Italian merchants and especially bankers or moneylenders, because Italians from Lombardy were prominent in finance.
History
The surname appears in English records as a nickname or identifying label for immigrants from Lombardy or for people associated with Lombard merchants. Historical writers also note its connection with Lombard Street in London, named for the Italian traders and moneylenders who once lived there. In some places, especially in the Netherlands, the word could even carry a hostile sense, referring to an excommunicated person or usurer.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lombard Street in London preserves the memory of the Italian merchants who gave the surname its wider medieval associations.
From the historical record
“sentient from Roman Catholic views. LOMBARD. A native of Lombardy. See Lambarde. Any banker or usurer was so called. In the Netherlands, a Lombard was an excoramimicated j^erson. He was denied the sacraments and Christian burial, and no priest would "marry him to any woman, excej^t bee first promise to leave off…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom