Mendenhall
An English surname that likely began as a place-based name, later established in North America, especially among Quaker families.
The #3,499 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 30,231 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Mendenhall is generally treated as an English locational surname, built from a place-name ending in -hall, meaning a hall, manor house, or large house. The first element is less certain and may come from an Old English personal name or a local topographic term; older surname books do not give a fully secure derivation. Because the place origin is not firmly established in the surviving excerpt, the safest reading is that it is a habitational name from a place now obscure or no longer prominent.
History
The name is well known in American records, and the excerpt notes it as a common name in one locality by the mid-19th century. It is especially associated with English-descended families in the United States, including Quaker lines in the Middle Atlantic and Midwest. As with many locational surnames, spelling stabilized in family lines after migration and settlement.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname appears in US census data as a relatively uncommon but established name, with just over 10,000 bearers in 2010.
From the historical record
“Fitting, and Fitton, and four families of Truefit ; Mr. Ripp ; Mr. Pinyard ; nine families of Needles, and one Knedler. Mendenhall is a common name there. Miss Fix is a dressmaker of that citv. Mr. Gird was an officer at West Point. In the Buffalo Directory for 1855, I find Loop and Vest. Messrs. Thredder, Pinner…”
— Suffolk Surnames (3rd ed.)