Zorn
A German surname from the word for “anger” or “wrath,” originally a nickname for a fierce or hot-tempered person.
The #7,353 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 68,141 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Zorn is the German word for “anger,” “wrath,” or “resentment,” going back to Middle High German and Old High German forms with the same sense. As a surname, it most likely began as a descriptive nickname for someone thought to be irritable, stern, or passionate. The name belongs to the large class of surnames formed from emotional traits or temperamental labels.
History
The name is well established in German-speaking areas and appears in historical surname lists and dictionaries as a recognized family name. It also turns up in North American records through German immigration. Like many short German surnames, it has stayed visually unchanged because the common noun spelling and the surname spelling are the same.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because the word is still a normal German noun, the surname can read like an ordinary vocabulary word rather than a traditional family name.
From the historical record
“14 3. Die altgermanische Namenwoli Leiber, eine Seele, die den Tod verachtet, und einen grimmigem Zorn als die wilden Tiere." Dieser wilde Eriegsmut ist der „/wror Teutonicus", der im Alter- turae wie zum Sprichwort geworden noch von viel späteren Schriftstel- lern oftmals erwähnt wird.”
— Die deutschen Familiennamen