Worden
A surname with several possible roots, most often treated as a variant of Warden, though some Cornish sources give it a local place-name origin.
The #3,880 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 33,783 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Worden is usually explained as a spelling variant of Warden, which can point to an occupation or place-name origin. One Cornish source instead derives it from a local topographic phrase meaning something like 'high hill' or 'upon the hill,' showing that the name may have arisen independently in different places. Because the historical evidence points in more than one direction, the safest view is that Worden is an English surname with multiple possible local or descriptive roots.
History
The name appears in later English surname lists and in American reference works, where it is often grouped with Worde/Worden spellings and with Warden. It is also found in Cornish surname literature, suggesting a regional stream of the name in southwest Britain. In the United States, Worden is established but not especially common, with a modest nationwide presence.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 19th-century surname writer even linked Worden to a Cornish phrase for a hill-top or high hill, so the name may literally be tied to the landscape.
From the historical record
“is the usual Lat. castra, a camp] WORDEN for Warden, q.v. WORDLEY for Wardley, q.v. WORDSLEY (Eng.) Bel. to Wordsley (Staffs), 13th cent. Wuluardeslea = Wulfwards Lea [for the pers. name see Woollard'; and -)- O.E. ledh, meadow]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)