Person
A surname that most likely began as a medieval byname for someone with a notable or distinctive personality, later fixed as an inherited family name.
The #496 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 4,580 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Person comes from the common word for a human being, ultimately from Latin persona, meaning a person or character and originally also a mask or role. In English and French surname-making, such everyday words could become hereditary surnames when used as nicknames or identifying bynames. The name may also have absorbed occasional French influence in spelling and form, but its core sense is simply “person.”
History
The surname is recorded in Britain in several medieval and later forms, and like many such names it likely began as a descriptive byname rather than a formal occupation or place name. Over time it became a fixed hereditary surname and spread into the English-speaking world, including North America. Because it is also an ordinary noun, some early records may reflect spelling variation or occasional confusion with similar-looking forms.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The modern English word person and the surname Person share the same Latin root, persona.
From the historical record
“name Smith is noteworthy. It should, however, be remembered that very frequently in Scotland Smith is a translation of the synonymous Gaelic Gow, Gowan, and Caird: — In Glasgow every 130th person is a Campbell, every 129th a Wilson, every 128th a Robertson ; 1 in every 125 is a Miller, 1 in 124 a Thomson; 1 in 121…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)