Rock
Usually a topographic surname for someone who lived by a rock, rocky place, or named locality.
The #1,859 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 15,986 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Rock is most often explained as a habitational or topographic name from Old English and Middle English words for a rock or rocky outcrop. In some cases it may point to a place-name such as Rock in Worcestershire or other small localities with the same name. The literal sense is straightforward: a person living near a prominent rock, crag, or stony place.
History
English parish and locality names called Rock helped give rise to the surname in several areas, and the name also appears in forms tied to older spellings and related place-names. Because rock is a common landscape word, the surname could arise independently in more than one place. It is not usually treated as an occupational name or a nickname in the classic surname dictionaries consulted here.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower specifically notes Rock as a parish name in Worcestershire and a chapelry in Northumberland, showing how often ordinary landscape words became surnames.
From the historical record
“which is doubtless its true meaning. ROCK. A parish in Worcestershire, a chapehy in Northumberland, and many other minor localities. ROCKCLIFFE. See Rawcliffe. There is, however, a parish so called in Cumber- land, tbrmerl}' Rothcliffe. TJie manor was anciently the possession of RaduliA de Bray, who gave it to…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom