Manchester
A locational surname originally used for someone from the English city of Manchester.
The #6,538 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 59,580 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname comes from the place name Manchester, the city in northwest England. Historical writers derive the city name from Old English elements meaning a fortified place or town, with an earlier Roman/Celtic base often reconstructed as Mancunium or a related form. The sources also suggest a possible older personal-name element behind the Roman name, though that part is uncertain.
History
As a surname, Manchester would have been adopted by people who moved from the city or were identified by association with it. The city itself has a long Roman and post-Roman history, and its name appears in early medieval sources. The surname is best understood as an English locational name rather than an occupational or patronymic one.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The name of the city was already ancient enough that 19th-century scholars were still debating whether its deeper origin was Roman, Celtic, or a blend of both.
From the historical record
“Estate ' [O.N. by-rj MANCHESTER (A.-Lat.-Celt.) Bel to Man- chester, the mameceaster of the A.-Saxon Chronicle and prob. the Mancunium 12 Mander Manson”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)