Lux
Usually a surname from the biblical name Lucas, though the Latin word for “light” has also influenced its spelling and interpretation.
The #5,940 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 53,269 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Lux is generally explained as a shortened or altered form of a given name related to Lucas or Luke, especially in Dutch and German naming traditions. One source specifically says it comes from a Groningen form of the biblical name Lucas. Because Latin lux means “light,” older writers sometimes linked the name with that word, but that is more likely an interpretive association than the primary surname origin.
History
The name appears in several European surname traditions, particularly in the Low Countries and German-speaking areas, where short forms of biblical names often became hereditary surnames. The form Lux is also found as a spelling influenced by the familiar Latin word lux, which likely helped it survive in written records. In modern usage it is relatively uncommon in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 19th-century surname dictionary noted that Lux was a Groningen form of Lucas, not simply the Latin word for “light.”
From the historical record
“LUX 203 LYO LUSBY. A parish in Liucolnshixe. LUSCOMBE. An estate near Dawlish,”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom