Turpin
An old surname usually explained as coming from the medieval personal name Turpin, made famous by the legend of Roland.
The #3,005 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 25,865 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Most historical surname writers connect Turpin with the medieval personal name Turpin, rather than with an occupation or place. In these sources, Turpin is often treated as a French form influenced by an older Scandinavian name, usually explained from Old Norse Thorfinnr, meaning roughly “Thor’s wolf/friend” depending on how the second element is interpreted. The name became familiar in medieval France through Archbishop Turpin of Reims, a legendary figure in the Chanson de Roland.
History
The surname appears in medieval English records and is especially associated in older surname dictionaries with northern England. Bardsley and Lower both treat related forms as patronymic developments from the personal name, and Lower notes South-Down forms such as Tuppen as later corruptions of Turpin. Because the medieval name was popular in French and literary tradition, the surname spread in several spellings and related forms.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The name is tied to Archbishop Turpin of Reims, a legendary character in the medieval epic Chanson de Roland.
From the historical record
“Pfaffen Konrad's lath-cent.German adapt- ation ' is usually Ruolant — e.g. ' Ruolant unde [and] Turpin' (6717). Cp. Rowland. Roland.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)