Vermillion
A surname likely coined from the bright red pigment/vermilion, probably as a nickname or ornamental name.
The #6,271 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 56,661 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Vermillion is most likely connected with the word for the vivid red pigment vermilion, from French and ultimately Latin roots referring to a bright red or scarlet color. As a surname, it would most naturally have arisen as a nickname or later ornamental name for someone associated with the color, the dye, or a striking red appearance. The spelling with double -ll- is a common English variant of the pigment word, though surnames can preserve many local or family-specific spellings.
History
The surname is comparatively uncommon and seems to have developed in English-speaking contexts rather than from a long medieval hereditary line that is well documented. Because the recorded evidence here is only an incidental mention of the word as a color term, the surname’s exact origin cannot be pinned down from the excerpt alone. It is found in the United States today, where such color-based surnames often spread through later migration and spelling variation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The word vermilion has long been used for a brilliant red pigment made historically from cinnabar, and it later became a fashionable source for surnames and other names.
From the historical record
“* Scarlet, Purple, Azure, Blue, Buff, Drab, Clear-hue, Gold- hue, Yellow, Yeller, Yaller, Carroty, Carmine, Crimson, Crome, Vermillion, Vermeil, Vertegreen, Oliegreen (Olive-), Seagreen, Ochregreen, Palegreen, Puregreen, Bluegreen, All- green, Greenshade, Greenish, Nogreen, Minium, Ebon, Bistre, Brome, Ochre…”
— A Grammar of American Surnames