Shipp

Etymology

The surname is usually explained as coming from Middle English ship, from Old English scip, meaning “ship.” In surname use it could describe someone who lived by a ship or boat, or near a house or inn marked with a ship sign. Some historical writers also connected it with place-name forms, but the core idea is the same: a name tied to a ship-related location or landmark.

History

Historical surname dictionaries record Shipp as an English name and compare it with forms like Skip, treating them as related spellings or dialectal variants. The name appears in medieval records, and later spellings with doubled consonants became established in some branches of the family. Because it is based on a very common everyday word, the surname likely arose independently in more than one place.

Origin

Regions

Variant spellings

Fun fact

Some 19th-century surname writers grouped Shipp with Skip, treating Skip as a guttural or dialectal form of the same name.