Mickey
Usually a pet-form surname from Michael, though it can also reflect an old nickname-based form of Mick/Mike.
The #8,259 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 76,956 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Mickey is most naturally explained as a surname built from the familiar given name Mickey, a pet form of Michael. Michael ultimately comes from Hebrew, meaning "Who is like God?" In English and Irish naming practice, short forms of personal names often became hereditary surnames, especially where a family was identified by an ancestor's forename.
History
The surname is not especially common, and historical records often blur it with the everyday nickname Mickey. The excerpts supplied mainly show it being used as a familiar diminutive alongside other short forms like Mick and Mike, which supports a nickname-based origin. In Irish and English contexts, surnames of this type often arose independently in more than one family line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because Mickey is so close to a common nickname, it can be hard to tell whether a particular family line began as a formal surname or as a record clerk's spelling of a pet name.
From the historical record
“Picinini (?), Black-imp, - Whiteman, Freedman, Blackman, Niggaman, Woolhead, Redman, In^an, Gips6 (?), Maine- man, Nevader, Yorker, Hoosier, Buckeye, Mickey, Mick, Teague, Fenian, Settler, Boomer, Landgrabber^ Gulcher, Niner (see Forty), - Siou, Siux (?), Shwshone, Ottoway, Ute, Moquin, Apache, Camanche, Pequot…”
— A Grammar of American Surnames