Mellon
A surname with several possible roots, including Irish forms related to O’Mellan/O’Mellan-like names and, in some cases, Norman or French forms from personal names or place-names.
The #7,211 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 66,713 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The evidence points to more than one possible origin for Mellon. In Irish sources, it is linked with forms such as O’Mellan / O’Mellon, suggesting an anglicized Gaelic surname; some dictionaries also connect it with related Irish spellings like Mellan and Mallan. Other historical notices point to Norman or French names and places, including a Norman fief called Mellon and French forms derived from a personal name, so the surname may be independent in different families.
History
The surname appears in medieval records in several spellings, which makes its history hard to reduce to a single line. In Ireland it was recorded in counties such as Tyrone and elsewhere in forms that were later Anglicized as Mellon or Mellan. In Britain and France, similar-looking surnames also arise from Norman and French personal names or place-names, so the modern surname can have more than one historical source.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some old surname dictionaries explicitly treat Mellon as a name that may come from different traditions rather than one single origin.
From the historical record
“Adam de Meltone, co. SoE, ibid. Rrcardu de Mellon, teuier, 1379: P.T. Yorli«,p.30i HeniicQa d^Mel”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances