Tsosie
A Navajo surname most often linked to a descriptive Navajo word, widely borne in the American Southwest.
The #6,465 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 58,753 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Tsosie is a Navajo surname, and in most modern surname references it is treated as coming from a Navajo descriptive word rather than from English or a European-language family name. The exact underlying Navajo form is often glossed as referring to something small, short, or little, though romanization and local family usage can vary. As with many Native American surnames, the spelling is an English transcription of an Indigenous name that became fixed in records under U.S. administration.
History
The surname is strongly associated with Navajo communities in Arizona, New Mexico, and nearby parts of the American Southwest. Like many Native surnames recorded in English, it likely became hereditary through bureaucratic and church recordkeeping in the late 19th and 20th centuries. It remains a distinctly Navajo surname today and is common enough to be well recognized within Diné communities.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The spelling preserves a Navajo name shape that English readers often find unusual, but it has become a familiar surname in southwestern Native communities.