Love
An English surname that may come from an old word for “wolf,” though it was later also associated with the familiar word love.
The #385 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 3,726 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Love is historically tricky: one 19th-century source explains it as an old modified form of French "loup," meaning "wolf," rather than the emotion. That same source compares it with related forms such as Lovel, and notes that one family bore wolves in their arms, which supports a heraldic or nickname-style interpretation. At the same time, the surname was naturally influenced by the ordinary English word "love," so later speakers may have understood it through that more familiar lens.
History
The name appears in medieval and post-medieval English records in forms such as "Le Love." In later centuries it became established as a hereditary surname and also spread into Ireland and Scotland through ordinary migration and anglicization. Because it is short and common as a word, it has sometimes been reinterpreted or paired with related surnames such as Fullilove and Loveday.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A modern English surname with a very warm sound may actually trace back, in one traditional explanation, to the word for "wolf."
From the historical record
“LOV AT. A hamlet in Liverness- shire. LOVE. This name relates not to the tender passion, but is an old modification of the Fr. Lohjj, wolf. In the same way Lupellus, the diminutive, became Loupel and Lovel. One family of this name bear wolves in their arms. Le Love. H.E. LOVECHILD. An illegitimate person. LOVEDAY.…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom