Sheets
A surname usually understood as a plural or variant form of Sheet, probably referring to someone connected with sheets or sheet-making.
The #1,685 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 14,438 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Sheets is most likely an English surname based on the word sheet, meaning a flat piece of cloth or a sheet of paper. In surname use, it is generally treated as a variant or pluralized form of Sheet, which could have begun as a nickname, an occupational name for someone who made or sold sheets, or a metonymic name connected with textile work. The historical evidence in older surname books mostly links it with other Sheet/Sheat/Sheed forms rather than giving a single certain derivation.
History
The name appears in U.S. surname discussions in the 19th century as part of a cluster of similar forms such as Sheet, Sheat, Sheed, and Sheard. American records show it as an established surname by the 1800s, and it remains especially visible in the United States today. Because the underlying form is simple and common in English, separate families may have adopted or inherited it in more than one way.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers often grouped Sheets with several lookalike names, showing how fluid spelling could be in older records.
From the historical record
“BLANCHARD. BLANSIIARD. Cot- grave says, "an order of Friers, who goe ordinarily in white sheets." It had most likely a wider application, to any person who aifected white raiment. See Jamie- son. BLANCHETT. Perliaps a diminutive”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom