Milburn
A habitational surname meaning someone who lived by a mill-stream or by a place named for one.
The #4,507 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 39,226 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Milburn comes from Old English elements meaning "mill" and "stream": mylen/myln- plus burna, "brook" or "stream." The name was used for people from places called Milburn or Milborne, referring to a stream associated with a mill. In some cases, the place-name may have been applied more broadly to a brook that powered a mill, or to settlements beside such a stream.
History
19th-century surname dictionaries place Milburn in northern and western Britain, especially where Milburn or Milborne place-names occur. The form appears in several spellings, including Milbourn and Milbourne, reflecting local pronunciation and later spelling variation. Some writers also suggested occasional confusion with similar names like Medburn, but the mill-stream explanation is the standard one.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A few older scholars noted that many Scottish and northern English place-names of this type were tied to the mill and its water supply, which made them especially important in preindustrial local life.
From the historical record
“MILBOURN MILBOURNE MILBURN (Eng.) Dweller by the Mill- Stream [O.E. myl{e)n + burne] MILDMAY(Eng.) Mild Maid (a nickname) [M.E. mild(e, O.E. milde, gentle, mild + , M.E. may, O.E. mckgQ-]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)