Mill
A surname for someone who lived by or worked at a mill.
The #9,255 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 87,762 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Mill comes from Middle English mill(e), continuing earlier Old English forms such as mylen and myln, all meaning a grain mill. As a surname, it was often used for someone who lived at or near a mill, and sometimes for someone connected with the work of milling. In some records it appears in locative phrases like 'at the mill,' which later became a fixed family name.
History
This is an old English surname with medieval forms such as Atte Mille and similar spellings. It is closely related to surnames like Miller, Milne, Milner, and Millward, which all point to the same world of milling and grain processing. Because mills were common and important in medieval communities, the name arose independently in more than one place.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Medieval records sometimes preserve the surname almost as a phrase, literally meaning 'at the mill.'
From the historical record
“Adam de Milford.— i/wwrf. Rolls. MILL (Eng.) Dweller at or by a Mill [M.E. mill{e, for earlier miln{e, melnCe, myln{e, O.t. myl{e)n\ Roger atte MiWe.—Hund. Rolls. _ (Fr.),the French Mille = i an aphrere- sized form oiEmile, formerly also written >”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)