Renshaw
A habitational surname meaning someone from Raven Wood or from Renishaw in Derbyshire.
The #7,599 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 70,587 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is usually explained as a place-name surname. One traditional derivation takes it from Old English words for “raven” and “wood” or “copse,” giving the sense “raven wood.” Another source links it with Renishaw in Derbyshire, and notes older spellings such as Ravenshaw and Olerenshaw. The name therefore points to a person who came from, or was identified with, a wooded place bearing a raven-related name.
History
Historical records show several medieval and early modern spellings, including Ravenshaw and Renshaw. The name is especially associated in the sources with Cheshire and Derbyshire, and it appears to have shifted over time from fuller Raven- forms to the shorter modern Renshaw. Later writers also treat it as a local surname that could be pronounced and written in several variant ways.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some 19th-century surname writers explicitly say that Renshaw is a shortened form of an older local name, not a separate root.
From the historical record
“RENSHALL for Renshaw, q.v. RENSHAW (Eng.) Dweller at the Raven- Wood or Raven's Wood [O.E. hrafn, a raven + sc{e)ag(f, a wood] Stephen de Ravenshagh. — Lane. Fines, A.D. 1342. Richard Raynshaw. — Lane. Fines, A.D. 1556.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)