Range
An English surname that may have developed as a short form of a name like Randolf, though some uses could also reflect a descriptive or place-based source.
The #9,794 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 93,389 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest clue in the older surname dictionaries is a link with Rand: one source explicitly treats Range as a shortened form or derivative of Rand, itself a short form of Randolf. That would make Range a patronymic surname, ultimately built on an old Germanic personal name whose first element meant something like "shield" or "rim." Because the historical material is thin, a separate descriptive origin cannot be ruled out entirely, but the Rand connection is the main traditional explanation.
History
The surname appears in small numbers in England and later in the United States. Older reference books did not treat it as a major surname, which suggests it was always relatively uncommon and may have had more than one local origin. The form may also have been influenced by spelling variation in records, especially where it was near surnames like Rand, Randal, or Ranger.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older English surname scholarship, Range was sometimes discussed alongside the much more common Rand and Randall family of names.
From the historical record
“FiELlD(s fO.E. hrcefn,&rAvea+<Bcer, afield] RANGE, Rand's (Son) ; v. Rand. RAND, a contr. of Randolf, q.v. RANDAL RANDALL RAN DELL RANDLE RANOOL Randal the Refe. — 'TheTurnamentof Tottetoham," 22 ; Percy.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)