Tittle
A surname of uncertain origin, most likely a place-name or a diminutive form related to older personal names.
The #7,647 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 71,090 Americans shares it.
Etymology
19th-century surname dictionaries mostly treat Tittle as either a local name or a diminutive tied to older given names. One line of explanation connects it with Titley in Herefordshire, with the final element thought to reflect an old word for 'hill'; another treats it as related to a diminutive form such as Titt/Titel, with parallels in German names like Tittel. The evidence does not point to a single secure derivation, so the surname is best left as probably locational, with an alternative personal-name origin.
History
The name appears in English surname collections, especially in the Midlands and western counties, but the old sources do not settle its exact source. Lower and Charnock both record it as a recognized surname, while Barber notes related continental forms. In modern records it survives as an uncommon English-language surname, especially in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower’s 19th-century dictionary lists Messrs. Tittle among examples of surnames that can sound comically modest or insignificant, alongside Blank and Null.
From the historical record
“TITLEY. A parish in Herefordshire. TITTLE. Probably local, the last syl- lable being a corruption of hill, TITUS. The personal name. TOBIAS. The personal name. TOBIN. See Tobyn. TOBLTT. The personal naine. TOBUTT. May be a corruption of Tal-”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom