Sprague
A surname usually explained as coming from an old word for someone lively, quick, or spry.
The #1,584 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 13,655 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is generally linked to an old word meaning brisk, active, or spirited. Some 19th-century writers connected it with English dialect forms like sprack or spragg, while others pointed to a Dutch word, spraak, meaning "speech" or "language." The name was sometimes also treated as a nickname for an eloquent or quick-speaking person, but the "lively, active" explanation is the one most often repeated in the historical sources here.
History
Historical surname writers in Britain and America treated Sprague as a cousin of Spragg, Sprake, and Sprigg, and often grouped them together as related nickname forms. The name is well established in English-speaking countries and appears in early modern records, later becoming especially familiar in the United States. Some American bearers gave the surname added visibility, including the poet Charles Sprague mentioned in 19th-century reference works.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Several old surname books explicitly link Sprague with Shakespeare’s "sprag" sense of a lively or nimble person.
From the historical record
“SPRAGG SPRAGUE U. Sppack. SPRAKE . He is a good sprag memory. — Merry Wives of W., IV. i. 84. SPRAGGON = Sppagg, Sprack (q.v.) + the Fr. augm. suff. -on. SPRAGGONS, Spraggon's (Son).”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)