Reno
A surname most likely from French Renault/Renaud, often shortened or altered after immigration or in records.
The #3,794 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 33,120 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Reno is commonly understood as a reduced or altered form of French surnames such as Renault or Renaud. Those names go back to Germanic roots meaning roughly “counsel” and “power,” and were originally personal names before becoming hereditary surnames. In English-language records, Reno was also sometimes created by simplifying a longer immigrant surname.
History
The historical note from Baring-Gould explicitly says that Renault was changed to Reno in the United States, which fits a broader pattern of surname shortening in immigrant communities. As a result, Reno in America may sometimes reflect deliberate alteration rather than a single old native surname line. In some cases it can also be a surname of French origin brought over in its shortened form.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Baring-Gould records Reno as one of several surnames that were shortened in American usage, alongside forms like Berners > Barnes and St. Jean > Session.
From the historical record
“etymologists derive the name of the place from Dal-clirom-2fuil, " the meadow of, or by, the crooked pool." This reno-mied fa- milj', which has probably produced more eminent men than any other in Scotland, was not ennobled until the XVII. century, by the title of Viscount (afterwards Earl) of Stair.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom