Sandberg
A Scandinavian habitational surname meaning “sand hill” or “sandy hill.”
The #4,210 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 36,686 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Sandberg is built from sand, meaning “sand,” and berg, meaning “hill” or “mountain.” The name therefore literally means “sand hill” or “sandy hill,” and it was likely first used for someone who lived by such a place. Similar formations also appear in Germanic surnames and place-names.
History
The surname is especially common in Scandinavia, where names built from landscape words are a major surname type. It also appears in German-speaking areas, sometimes independently and sometimes through migration or parallel formation. In English-speaking countries, Sandberg is usually associated with Scandinavian immigration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same two elements show up in many Germanic place-names, so Sandberg can also be the surname of someone named after a local hill or settlement rather than a family nickname.
From the historical record
“Sand. Sand, sand, earth. Sandberg. Sand, sand ; berg, a hill. A sand-hill. ' Sandberger. Sandberg, -d. 's,2.x\.di-\\\\\', ^r, an agent. A sand- hill dweller. Sander. Sand, sand, earth ; er, an agent, or doer. A sand- digger. Saner, a contraction of the same.”
— Family Names from the Irish, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman and Scotch