Thornhill
A habitational surname meaning “from Thornhill,” a place-name built from Old English for a hill marked by thorn trees.
The #4,817 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 42,138 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Thornhill is a habitational surname taken from places called Thornhill, especially the Yorkshire place noted in medieval records. The name is built from Old English thorn, meaning “thorn tree,” plus hyll, meaning “hill,” so the literal sense is “thorn hill” or “hill with thorn trees.” Some older writers also connect the surname with other local Thornhill place-names in Derbyshire and elsewhere.
History
The name is well established in northern England, with medieval spellings such as Thornyll and Thornhyll recorded in the sources. In 19th-century genealogical writing, families of Thornhill were linked to long local landholding in Yorkshire and Derbyshire. The surname spread from these English place-names as people moved away from their home parishes.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A medieval form recorded for the Yorkshire place-name was Domesday Tomil, showing how much place-name spellings could shift over time.
From the historical record
“Chesh. THORNHILL] (Eng.) BeL to Thornhill; or THORNILL t Dweller at the THORN-Tree THORN ELL J Hill [O.E. \orn + hyll] Thornhill, Yorks, the Domesday Tomil, was Thornyll and Thornhyll in the 14th cent,”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)