This is a list of submitted surnames in which the usage is American; and the length is 9.
Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. The accuracy of these name definitions cannot be guaranteed.
PennywellEnglish English habitational name from Pennywell in Tyne and Wear or from a similarly named lost place elsewhere.
PeregrineEnglish, Popular Culture Derived from the given name Peregrine. A fictional bearer is Alma LeFay Peregrine, a character from the novel "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" (2011) by Ransom Riggs.
PillsburyEnglish Derived from a place in Derbyshire, England, so named from the genitive of the Old English given name Pil and burh meaning "fortified place".
PleasanceEnglish Either (i) from the medieval female personal name Plaisance, literally "pleasantness"; or (ii) "person from Piacenza", Italy (from Latin Placentia, literally "pleasing things").
PrestwichEnglish, Irish habitational name from a place in Lancashire (now Greater Manchester) so called Prestwick from Old English preost "priest" and wic "outlying settlement" or from other places with the same derivation.
PrestwoodEnglish habitational name from any of several places called from Middle English prestpriest "priest" and wode "wood" (Old English preostwudu) meaning "dweller by the priest's wood"
PrudhommeFrench, English, Norman, Medieval French French (Prud’homme) and English (of Norman origin): nickname from Old French prud’homme ‘wise’, ‘sensible man’, a cliché term of approbation from the chivalric romances. It is a compound of Old French proz, prod ‘good’, with the vowel influenced by crossing with prudent ‘wise’ + homme ‘man’... [more]
PuddephatEnglish From a medieval nickname for someone with a roly-poly physique (from Middle English puddy fat "round-bellied vat").
QuantrellEnglish From a medieval nickname for an elegantly or flamboyantly dressed person (from Middle English quointerel "dandy, fop", from quointe "known, knowledgeable, crafty, elegant").
RainwaterEnglish (American) Americanized form of the German family name Reinwasser, possibly a topographic name for someone who lived by a source of fresh water, from Middle High German reine ‘pure’ + wazzer ‘water’.
RicketsonEnglish It was brought to England in the great wave of migration following the Norman Conquest of 1066. It comes from the Old German name Ricard, meaning "powerful" and "brave."
RochesterEnglish Means "person from Rochester", Kent (probably "Roman town or fort called Rovi"). A fictional bearer of the surname is Mr Rochester, the Byronic hero of Charlotte Brontë's 'Jane Eyre' (1847).
RochesterEnglish Habitational name from one of three places in Northumberland called Rochester, with names whose early spellings are very similar and sometimes difficult to distinguish from each other... [more]
SainsburyEnglish habitational name from Saintbury (Gloucestershire) from the Old English personal name Sæwine (genitive Sæwines from Old English sæ "sea" and wine ‘friend’) plus burg "fortified place".
SalisburyEnglish Habitational name from the city in Wiltshire, the Roman name of which was Sorviodunum (of British origin). In the Old English period the second element (from Celtic dun ‘fortress’) was dropped and Sorvio- (of unexplained meaning) became Searo- in Old English as the result of folk etymological association with Old English searu ‘armor’; to this an explanatory burh ‘fortress’, ‘manor’, ‘town’ was added... [more]
SalthouseEnglish Salthouse and other variants come from the place name in Northumberland.
SaltmarshEnglish Last name of cricket player Ian Saltmarsh (1901-1970).
SambourneEnglish From the name of a hamlet in Warwickshire, England.
SandhurstEnglish (Rare) From Sandhurst, the name of places in the English counties of Kent, Gloucestershire and Berkshire, all of which come from the Old English elements sand "sand" and hyrst "hillock, copse".
ScrogginsEnglish Derived from Middle English scrogge meaning "brushwood", given to someone who lived near a bushy area, or perhaps a nickname for someone with a prickly personality.
ShackladyEnglish Perhaps from a medieval nickname for a man who had had sexual relations with a woman of higher social class (from shag "to copulate with" (not recorded before the late 17th century) and lady).... [more]
SheldrakeEnglish From a medieval nickname for a dandyish (showy) or vain man, from Middle English scheldrake, the male of a type of duck with brightly-coloured plumage (itself from the East Anglian dialect term scheld "variegated" combined with drake "male duck").
ShoesmithEnglish occupational name for a blacksmith who either specialized in shoeing horses (a farrier) or in making and fitting iron blades known as shoes such as the tips of spades and the plowshares on plow moldboards from Middle English sho "shoe" (Old English scoh) and smith "smith" (Old English smiþ).
ShrimptonEnglish Probably referring to the unknown "Estate of Shrimp"
SimpletonEnglish A name for someone who is simple, derived from old English.
SinclaireEnglish Alternate spelling of the surname "Sinclair", derived from a Norman French town called "Saint Clair"
SingletonEnglish Habitational name from either of two villages, one in Lancashire, derived from Old English scingol "shingle, roof tile" and tun "enclosure, yard, town", the other in Sussex, derived from Old English sengel meaning "brushwood" or "burnt clearing".
SkipworthEnglish From the name of Skipwith in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The place name was recorded as Schipewic in the Domesday Book of 1086; as Scipewiz in the 1166 Pipe Rolls of the county; and as Skipwith in the 1291 Pipe Rolls, and derives from the Old English sceap, scip "sheep", and wic "outlying settlement"; hence, "settlement outside the village where sheep were kept".
SlaughterEnglish occupational name from Middle English slaughter "butcher" a derivative of Middle English slaught "butchery" and the suffix er or from a shortened form of the synonymous Middle English slaughterer a derivative of slaughter "butchery" and the suffix er.
SmithwickEnglish habitational name from Smethwick in Staffordshire Smethwick Green near Brereton Heath (Cheshire) or a lost place called Smithwick in Southover (Sussex). The place name means "the farm of the smiths" from Old English smiþ "smith" and wic "dwelling specialized farm"... [more]
SouthwickEnglish An English/Scottish locational name from a variety of places, including, Southwick in Northamptonshire, England, and Southwick in Gloucestershire, Sussex, Durham, Hampshire. ... [more]
SovereignEnglish Occupational surname for a leader or supervisor, derived from the English word sovereign meaning "possessing supreme or ultimate power".
SpendloveEnglish From a medieval nickname for someone who spread their amorous affections around freely. A different form of the surname was borne by Dora Spenlow, the eponymous hero's "child-wife" in Charles Dickens's 'David Copperfield' (1849-50).... [more]
SpringallEnglish Means (i) "operator of a springald (a type of medieval siege engine)" (from Anglo-Norman springalde); or (ii) from a medieval nickname for a youthful person (from Middle English springal "youth").
StancliffEnglish Habitational name from Scout in Northowram (Yorkshire) recorded as Staynclif in 1309 and Stancliff Skoute (the home of Edward Stankliff) in 1536. The placename derives from Old English stan 1 "stone rock" with influence from Old Norse steinn "stone rock" and Old English clif "cliff bank" later with Middle English scoute "projecting cliff overhanging rock" (Old Norse skúti).
StockdaleEnglish Habitational name from a place in Cumbria and North Yorkshire, England. Derived from Old English stocc "tree trunk" and dæl "valley".
StockholmDanish (Rare), English (American) Danish variant of Stokholm. English usage could be a habitational name for someone from Stockholm, Sweden (see Stockholm), but this etymology does not apply to Scandinavian usage of the name.
SummersetEnglish Regional surname for someone from Somerset, an area in England. The name is derived from Old English sumer(tun)saete meaning "dwellers at the summer settlement".
SwinburneEnglish habitational name primarily from Great and Little Swinburne (Northumberland) but perhaps also occasionally from one or other places similarly named from Old English swin "pig" and burna "stream" meaning "pig stream".
SwinehartEnglish, German Means "swine herder", from Middle High German swīn "hog, swine" and hertære "herder".
TewksburyEnglish Derived from Tewkesbury, a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is named with the Old English given name Teodec and burg meaning "fortification".
ThackerayEnglish Habitational name for a person from the place named Thackray in Yorkshire, from Old Norse þak "thatch, roof" and rá "corner, nook".
ThornburgEnglish The name Thornburg comes from the Old English thorn broc, because the original bearers lived near a "stream by the thorns" in Buckinghamshire and North Yorkshire.
ThornhillEnglish Habitational name from any of various places named Thornhill, for example in Derbyshire, West Yorkshire, Dorset, and Wiltshire, from Old English þorn "thorn bush" + hyll "hill".
TimberleyAmerican, English (Rare) Means "timber clearing" in English. From the Middle English words tymber, meaning wood trees, and leah, meaning clearing. The name's origin be related to tree farming.... [more]
TreadwellEnglish Occupational name for a fuller, a person who cleaned and shrunk newly woven cloth by treading it. It is derived from Middle English tred(en) "to tread" and well "well".
TrevathanEnglish, Cornish Habitational name from one or more places in Cornwall named Trevethan, from Middle Cornish tre "estate farmstead" with a second element of uncertain meaning. It could be an unrecorded Old Cornish personal name Buthen.
WackermanEnglish (American), German From the Americanized spelling of German Wackermann, a variant of Wacker, with the addition of Middle High German man, meaning ‘man’.
WadsworthEnglish Location name from Yorkshire meaning "Wæddi's enclosure or settlement" with Wæddi being an old English personal name of unknown meaning plus the location element -worth. Notable bearer is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) for whom the middle name was his mother's maiden name.
WainscottEnglish Meaning unknown. From Middle English Waynescot. The surname presumably arose from a nickname for someone who imported or used oak timber.
WalbridgeEnglish English (Dorset): habitational name, probably from Wool Bridge in East Stoke, Dorset.
WarburtonEnglish From the village and civil parish of Warburton in Greater Manchester (formerly in Cheshire), England, derived from the Old English feminine given name Werburg (itself derived from wǣr meaning "pledge" and burh "fortress") and Old English tun meaning "enclosure, yard, town".
WentworthEnglish Habitational name from places in Cambridgeshire and South Yorkshire called Wentworth, probably from the Old English byname Wintra meaning ‘winter’ + Old English worð ‘enclosure’... [more]
WestermanEnglish Topographical surname for someone who lived west of a settlement or someone who had moved to the west, from Old English westerne meaning "western" and mann meaning "man, person".
WhitehallEnglish From the name of any of several locations in England, derived from Old English hwit "white" and halh "nook, corner", or sometimes heall "hall, manor".
WhitelockEnglish It is believed to be a habitational surname derived from Whitlock in Shropshire, England.
WhitfieldEnglish It is locational from any or all of the places called Whitfield in the counties of Derbyshire, Kent, Northamptonshire and Northumberland, or from the villages called Whitefield in Lancashire, the Isle of Wight and Gloucestershire.
WhitmarshEnglish English habitational name from Whitemarsh, a place in the parish of Sedgehill, Wiltshire, named from Old English hwit ‘white’ (i.e. ‘phosphorescent’) + mersc ‘marsh’. Compare Whitmore.
WilbrahamEnglish Denoted a person hailing from Wilbraham in Cambridgeshire, England. The place name itself means "Wilburg's homestead or estate" in Old English, Wilburg or Wilburga allegedly referring to a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon princess who was given the lands later called Wilbraham by her father, King Penda of Mercia.
WodehouseEnglish The name "de Wodehouse" is attested as early as in the 11th century, of one Bertram, of Wodehouse-tower, Yorkshire, who lived at the time of the Norman conquest.
WolfendenEnglish derived from the place called Wolfenden in the parish of Newchurch-in-Rossendale, Lancashire. The placename means "Wulfhelm's valley", or "the valley of Wulfhelm" derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name Wulfhelm, composed of the elements wulf "wolf" and helm "helmet, protection" and denu "valley".
WoodhouseEnglish, Irish habitational name from any of various places (in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Northumberland, Shropshire, and elsewhere) called Woodhouse, or a topographic name for someone who lived at a "house in the wood" (Middle English wode hous, Old English wuduhus).
WycherleyEnglish Derived from a place name apparently meaning "elm-wood clearing" from Old English wice and leah. A famous bearer was the dramatist William Wycherley (1640-1715).
YarbroughEnglish Habitational name derived from Yarborough or Yarburgh in Lincolnshire, England, both composed of Old English eorþe "earth, ground, dirt" and burg "fortress, citadel, stronghold".