Rowland
A surname from the old personal name Roland, especially common in Wales, with later forms like Rowlands and Rowlandson.
The #993 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 8,791 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Rowland is a surname taken from the medieval personal name Roland, ultimately from Germanic elements usually understood as ‘fame’ and ‘land’ or ‘territory.’ In English use it came through Old French Rouland/Rolland, which helped make the name familiar in medieval Britain. The surname is therefore usually a patronymic: it began as a way of identifying someone as the son or family of a man named Roland/Rowland.
History
Historical surname dictionaries note that Rowland was a common personal name, especially in Wales, and that it produced related family names such as Rowlands and Rowlandson. The form also appears in English records as a straightforward surname and as a place-linked surname in a few cases, since there is a township called Rowland in Derbyshire. Spelling variation is common in older records, including Rowland, Rawland, and related forms.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older English and Welsh records, Rowland was often used so widely as a first name that it naturally generated multiple surname forms from it.
From the historical record
“Rodolf, q.v. - [Er. dim. suff. -et\ ROWLAND = Roland, q.v. This form arises directly from the 13th- cent. A.-Fr. Rouland, which is a present- day French surname. ROWLANDS, Rowland's (Son) 1 „ , ^ ROWLANDSON, Rowland's Son / ^-Ro'and. 126”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)