Tunstall
A habitational surname meaning “from Tunstall,” a name found at several English places, originally referring to a farm or settlement by a boundary or enclosure.
The #8,527 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 80,007 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Tunstall is a habitational surname taken from one of several English places called Tunstall. The name is usually explained from Old English elements meaning “farm, settlement, or manor” plus a second element often interpreted as “place, position, or stall,” giving the sense of a farmstead or manorial site. In older surname books, the exact place-name analysis is sometimes handled a little differently, but the consistent point is that it is a place-based English name tied to a rural settlement.
History
The surname appears in medieval and post-medieval records from several English counties, reflecting multiple independent families adopting the name from different places called Tunstall. It is especially associated with northern and eastern England, though the place-name exists in more than one region. Later writers also note spellings such as Tunstill and, in some records, Townstall.
Origin
Regions
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Fun fact
19th-century surname dictionaries list Tunstall among the many English surnames formed from place-names rather than from jobs or nicknames.
From the historical record
“O.E. tun, va., garden, manor, world] TUNSTALL 1 (Eng.) Bel. to Tunstall (a com- TUNSTELL !■ mon Eng. place-name), A.-Sax. TUNSTILL J r«'«jteaH= the Farm or Manor Stabi,e(s [O.E. tun, farm, etc. -|- steall, stall, stable] TUNSTEAD (Eng.) Bel. to Tunstead (a”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)