London
A surname taken from the great city of London, originally used to mean someone from the capital or its surrounding area.
The #2,249 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 19,064 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname comes from the place-name London, the English capital. As Lower notes, it arose in the usual way from a place-name used as a hereditary surname, especially for someone who came from London or was identified with it. Related medieval forms include De London and De Londr., and derivative forms such as Londonish and Londonoys also appear in older records.
History
The name is first and foremost a locational surname, and it could identify a person who had moved away from the city or was otherwise associated with it. Lower also records several related surname and adjectival forms formed from the same place-name, showing that London could generate a small cluster of surnames and descriptors. As with many English locational surnames, it later spread widely and became hereditary beyond its original geographic meaning.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower specifically notes that Chaucer used Londenoys for a Londoner, a handy medieval label meaning “the man from London.”
From the historical record
“LONDON The Mobland Press, Ltd., 190 Ebury Street, S.W.I 19]L8 LIST OF ORIGINAL SUBSCRIBERS Aberdeen Public Library (G. M. Fraser, Esq., Librarian). C. W. Adams, Esq., Haileybury College, Hertford.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)