Sapp
An English surname that most likely began as a nickname, sometimes linked to “sap” in the sense of a simpleton or to the word for plant juice.
The #1,752 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 15,099 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Sapp is usually explained as a nickname surname. One line of interpretation connects it with Middle English sap, meaning a foolish or gullible person, alongside later expressions like sap-head or sapskull. Another possibility, mentioned in older surname works, is that it relates to the ordinary word sap, “juice,” but that explanation is less certain for the surname as such.
History
The name is recorded in medieval England, and later surname writers treat it as an old English nickname rather than an occupational or locational name. By the 19th century it was established enough in Britain and the United States to be noticed in surname discussions and newspapers. In America it has remained relatively uncommon but recognizable, especially in the South and Mid-Atlantic.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books even joked that the name might come from vegetables, but later scholarship generally preferred a nickname explanation.
From the historical record
“room." !Mr. Sapp was a member of Congress; and that name is found in Philadelphia. Mr. Gump's store, at Appalachicola, was lately inundated ; and other GuMPs are found in New York and Philadelphia. An English hostler, named Dupe, was the victim of an accident, in 1857, occasioned by a rat. We have”
— Suffolk Surnames (3rd ed.)