Poland
A surname that can point either to the country of Poland or, in some English families, to a place-name meaning “pool land.”
The #4,581 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 39,859 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname has more than one possible source. In many cases it is an ethnic or regional name for someone from the country of Poland, reflected in older forms like French and German words for the country. Some English sources also explain it as a local surname from Old English elements meaning “pool” + “land,” referring to land by a pool or marshy water.
History
Nineteenth-century surname dictionaries treat Poland mainly as a geographical surname, but some writers also note an English topographic explanation. The name appears in British and Irish surname lists, and later it spread with migration to North America and elsewhere. Because the same spelling can arise from different origins, individual family lines may not share a single source.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One older dictionary even set it beside English place-based surnames like Polden, showing how easily a country name and a landscape name could look identical in surname form.
From the historical record
“— Hamlet, IL ii. 63. POLAND (A.-SIav.) Bel. to Poland, the Fr. Pologne, Ger. Polen, Pol. Polska [f. Slav. pole, a plain] (Eng.) Dweller at the Pool-Land [O.E. pol + land] POLDEN (Eng.) Dweller at the Pool-Hollow [O.E. pol + denu]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)