Penland
A surname most likely formed from a place-name, probably meaning someone from or near a fenced or enclosed piece of land.
The #7,981 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 74,540 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Penland is most plausibly an English locational surname built from Middle English elements meaning "enclosure" or "pen" plus "land." In surnames, this kind of formation usually pointed to someone who lived by a marked or enclosed tract of ground, or who came from a small place called Penland. The exact place behind the name is not certain, so the sense is best treated as approximate rather than definitive.
History
The name is found mainly in English-speaking countries, especially in the United States, where it appears to have been carried forward by later colonial and post-colonial migration. Because Penland is relatively uncommon and not tied to a single widely known major family line, its modern distribution likely reflects multiple local branches rather than one famous origin point.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Names ending in -land are often locational, but they do not always refer to a country or estate; sometimes they simply describe a patch of ground or a local landmark.