Thorp
An English and Scottish surname meaning someone from a village, hamlet, or small farmstead.
The #5,716 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 50,889 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Thorp comes from the old place-word found in Old English and Old Norse for a small settlement, hamlet, or farmstead. The surname was originally given to people who lived at, or came from, a place called Thorp, Thorpe, or a similar form. In some cases it may also reflect a village or outlying district whose name contained this element.
History
Historical surname writers note that Thorp was already established as a common local surname by the Middle Ages, and they connect it with many English places named Thorpe or Thorp. Some families, including lines noted in Durham and Norfolk, were later associated with specific places of that name. The spelling without final -e is a later variant of the more common Thorpe.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same old settlement word behind Thorp survives in many English place names, especially across the Midlands and East Anglia.
From the historical record
“+ O.E. tAn, farm, estate] THORP 1 (Eng. and Scand.) Bel. to Thorp, THORPE J Thorpe = the Farmstead, Ham- let, Village [O.E. and O.N. ^orp] yfa.nB.dsThorpe.—Hund. Rolls. The cok, that orloge [clock] is oithorpes lyte [little].— Chaucer, Parlement of Foules, 350. THORRINGTON (Eng.) Bel. to Thorrington”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)