Stites
A surname likely from a place name or a variant spelling of an older English surname, later established in North America.
The #7,633 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 70,992 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Stites is usually treated as an English surname in form, though its exact source is not securely documented in standard surname references. It may be a variant spelling developed from a place-based name or from an older surname with shifting medieval spellings. The ending -s can sometimes reflect a patronymic or possessive form, but in many surnames it is simply part of a later fixed spelling.
History
The name is best known in the United States, where it was carried by early settler families and later became established as an American surname. Because the spelling is relatively uncommon, many bearers likely descend from a small number of related colonial lines rather than from multiple unrelated origins. The surname’s history is therefore more genealogical than etymological: family branches can be traced in local records more easily than the word’s original medieval form.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname is uncommon enough that in American records it often appears in tightly clustered family networks, which can make it useful for genealogical tracing.