Lyman
A surname that likely began as a place-based name from Lyneham/Lympne, later spreading especially in England and early New England.
The #3,079 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 26,470 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is usually explained as a reduced or altered form of an English place-name surname, especially from Lyneham in Oxfordshire; older writers also connected it with Lympne (ancient Lymne/Limne) in Kent. In that view, the ending -ham was weakened or lost over time, leaving Lyman as a shortened surname form. The historical evidence in 19th-century works points to more than one possible place-source, so the derivation is not absolutely certain in every family line.
History
Bardsley noted an early change to Lyman by the late 16th century and remarked on how strongly the name later spread in the United States. Dixon also records early bearers in England, including a John Lyman of Barking, Essex, in 1462, and an early settler Richard Lyman in Massachusetts in 1633. Because the surname took root in colonial New England, it became especially prominent in American family lines.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bardsley specifically singled out Lyman as a striking example of a surname that spread very rapidly in the United States.
From the historical record
“LYLE and Lyell (01. N.), The isle. LYMAN (©•)? Lymne. Lympne ov Lymne, co. Kent, was also called in ancient records Limne and Limeue, and, in the Itine- rary of Antoninus, Lemauus. In 39 Hen. HI. A.D. 1254, Robert of Limon was one of the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex. John Lyman, of Barking, co. Essex, d. 14G2.…”
— Surnames