Trump
A surname most often linked to a trumpeter or trumpet-player, with a possible connection to the word for a trumpet.
The #8,484 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 79,451 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually explained as an occupational name for a trumpeter or herald who sounded a trumpet or trump. The historical forms include Trumper and Trompour, which point back to Middle English trumpe/trompe, from Old French trompe and ultimately Old High German trumpa, meaning a trumpet. Some 19th-century writers also suggested that Trump itself may be a shortened form of an older Trumper-type name with an added or intrusive -p.
History
The name is found in medieval English records, including Yorkshire poll-tax material from 1379 in the form Tromper/Trumper-like spellings. Later surname writers treated Trump as a short form related to Trumper rather than as a separate origin. The name remained uncommon but has persisted in Britain and, through migration, in North America and elsewhere.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname books repeatedly grouped Trump with other instrument-based names like Drum, Piper, and Harper.
From the historical record
“app. had no surnominal influence. TRUMP = Tr'unn(m (q.v.) with intrus. -p. TRUMPER (A.-Fr.-Teut.) Trumpeter [IVl.E. trumpe, trompe, a trumpet + the agent, suff. -er ; f. l'"r. trompe, O.H.Ger. trumpa, a trumpet] Walter Tromper. — Yorks Poll-Tax, A.D. 1379. TRUMPINGTON (Eug.) Bel. to Trumpington”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Trump
- Donald Trump (b. 1946)
- Melania Trump (b. 1970)
- Ivanka Trump (b. 1981)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.