Stewart
A classic surname from the medieval office of steward or household guardian.
The #61 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 950 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Stewart is an occupational surname from the medieval office of steward, the person who managed a household, estate, or lord’s table. The word goes back to Old English stīweard / stiward, usually explained as stīg or stīġe meaning a pen or enclosure for animals, plus weard, “guardian” or “keeper.” In later medieval English the spelling often appears as steward, styward, stuard, and Stewart.
History
The surname became established in Britain from men identified by this office rather than by a hereditary family name. In Scotland, Stewart became especially prominent because the royal house took the surname, and its prestige helped make it widespread. Some 19th-century writers treated Stewart as simply a spelling form of Stuart, while others noted its direct connection to the office-title steward.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The royal surname Stuart is historically a French-influenced spelling that became standard in the Scottish royal line, while Stewart remains the more ordinary English and Scottish form in general use.
From the historical record
“STEWARD \ (EngO Seneschal ; lit. and orig. STEWART J Sty-Ward [M.E. styward, sti- ward, steward, stuard, etc. ; O.E. stiw(e)ard (= O.N. st(uar^S-r) — stigu, sty, animal- enclosure -I- w(e)ard, guardian, keeper] Hugh le Stivfard.— Hund. Rolls. But, shortly, from the castel on a nyght. The lordes styward, — God yeve…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)