Niemi
A Finnish surname meaning “a promontory” or “a cape,” originally referring to someone who lived by a point of land.
The #7,767 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 72,272 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Niemi is the Finnish word for a promontory, headland, or cape—land that juts out into water. As a surname, it most likely began as a topographic name for someone who lived near such a place. In Finnish naming, this kind of nature-based surname is very common.
History
The surname is strongly associated with Finland and Finnish-speaking communities, and it fits a broad pattern of surnames taken from landscape features. Many Finnish surnames became fixed hereditary family names in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, though some were in use earlier. Emigration spread the name to North America and other countries, where it is usually kept in its original Finnish form.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In Finnish, niemi is a very ordinary geographic word, so the surname is one of many Finnish family names that began as a simple description of the local landscape.