Soles
A surname most likely from a local name, originally meaning someone who lived by a pond or marshy place.
The #8,274 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 77,071 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually treated as a plural or genitive form of Sole, with early English evidence pointing to a place-name or local topographic nickname. One explanation links it to a Kentish dialect word for a pond or pool, so the name may originally have meant someone living by “the sole,” or pool. Another historical note associates it with the Domesday-place name Soley in Warwickshire, though that is more often discussed under Soley/Solly than directly under Soles.
History
19th-century surname writers recorded Soles mainly in England, especially in Kent and Sussex. The name appears in medieval records, including an early Hamo de Soles in Kent, which supports its old local-English pedigree. Later writers also noted that the form can function as a plural or possessive variant of Sole.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some early surname scholars thought Soles could ultimately connect to a word for a pond in Kent dialect.
From the historical record
“Diet- Kent. Dial. (Parish and Shaw), p. 155. SOLES, pi. (and genit.) of Sole, q.v. SOLEY (Eng. or Celt. + E.) Bel. to Soley (End), Warw., the Domesday Soulege = =the (River) Sow-Lea [O.E. ledh] (Heb.) more usually Solly, q.v. SOLLER (A.-Lat.) One who lives in a Garret or Loft [M.E. soler(e ; O.E. solor or O.Fr.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)