Origin
Ash : 1: English: from Middle English asche ‘ash tree’ (Old English æsc) hence a topographic name for someone living by an ash tree or a habitational name from any of the many places in southern and central England named with this word (Derbyshire Dorset Hampshire Herefordshire Kent Surrey Shropshire Somerset and elsewhere).2: Americanized form of German Asch and Esch the latter ultimately also of Swiss German origin (see Oesch).3: Americanized form (translation into English) of French Dufresne with the same meaning as 1 above.4: Jewish (Ashkenazic): from an acronym for Yiddish AltSHul (see Altschul) or AyznSHtot (see Eisenstadt).
Aeschliman : Americanized form of Swiss German Aeschlimann: topographic name for someone who lived near a (small) ash tree or ash wood from Esche (Old High German asc) ‘ash’ + the diminutive suffix -li + -mann ‘man’ or perhaps a derivative of Öschli a pet form of a vernacular form of the personal name Oswald. Compare Aschliman Eschliman Eshelman and Eshleman.
Aschenbrenner : German: occupational name for someone who prepared ash from wood fires for use in glassworks and soapworks etc. from Middle High German asche esche ‘ashes’ + brenner ‘burner’. Compare Ashabranner and Ashenbrenner.
Ascher : 1: German (often Äscher): occupational name for an ashmaker (see Aschenbrenner) from Middle High German escher ‘ashes’.2: German: topographic name for someone who lived by an ash tree or ash grove from Middle High German asch ‘ash’ + -er suffix denoting an inhabitant.3: German: habitational name for someone from any of numerous minor places called with the element asch including Ascha Aschach Aschau.4: Jewish (Ashkenazic): adoption of the German surname or a variant of Asher.
Ashdown : English: habitational name from Ashdown Forest in East Sussex named in Old English with æscen ‘growing with ash trees’ + dūn ‘hill’. Perhaps also occasionally from Ashdown in Lenham Kent.
Asher : 1: English (mainly southern): topographic name denoting someone living by an ash tree from Middle English asche ‘ash tree’ + the habitational suffix -er.2: English: possibly from the Middle English personal name Ascher a survival of the rare Old English name Æschere.3: English: perhaps from the Anglo-Norman and Middle English personal name Asser Atser (Old Norse Qzurr Azur).4: Jewish: from the Biblical personal name Asher (Genesis 30:13) meaning ‘blessed’ in Hebrew.5: Americanized form of German Ascher.
Asherman : Americanized form of German Aschermann: occupational name for someone who prepared ash for use in making glass or soap from Middle High German asche esche ‘ashes’ + man ‘man’. Compare Ausherman.
Ashford : English: habitational name from any of several places called Ashford. Those in Devon Derbyshire and Shropshire are named from Old English æsc ‘ash’ + ford ‘ford’. One in Middlesex is first recorded in 969 as Ecelesford and is probably from the personal name Eccel a diminutive of Ecca ‘edge (of a sword)’ + ford. The one in Kent is from æscet ‘clump of ash trees’ + ford.
Ashland : 1: English: variant of Ashling itself a variant of Aslin. The name may also be a topographic or habitational name for residence on or near land covered with ash trees. There are minor places called Ashland(s) in Hampshire Sussex Leicestershire Staffordshire and Galloway.2: Americanized form of Norwegian Åsland (see Osland 2) or Askeland.3: Americanized form of French Canadian Asselin 2.
Ashton : English: habitational name from any of numerous places so called especially Ashton-under-Lyne near Manchester. Most are named from Old English æsc ‘ash tree’ + tūn ‘settlement’; the one in Northamptonshire is (æt thǣm) æscum ‘(at the) ash trees’. Others have been assimilated to this from different sources. The one in Devon is ‘the settlement (tūn) of Æschere’ while the one in Hertfordshire is ‘the settlement of Ælli’.
Ashwood : English: habitational name from any of various places called as ‘the ash wood’ for example Ashwood in Kinver Forest (Staffordshire) Ashwood Dale in Fairfield (Derbyshire) and Ashwood Farm in Ashton (Northamptonshire); from Old English æsc ‘ash’ + wudu ‘wood’.
Askin : 1: English (of Norman origin): from the Middle English personal name Askin a shortened form of the Norman personal name Asketin a pet form of Asketill Askell which is of Old Norse origin and related to Haskell.2: English: variant of Askerne a habitational name from Askern in Campsall near Doncaster (Yorkshire). The placename denoted a house (Old English ærn) by an ash tree (Old English æsc influenced or substituted by Old Norse askr).3: English and Irish: variant of Heskin.4: English: variant of Haskin with the same meaning as 1 above.5: Turkish (Aşkın): ornamental name or nickname from aşkın ‘exceeding’.
Askren : English (northern): habitational name from Askern in Campsall near Doncaster (Yorkshire). The placename denoted a house (Old English ærn) by an ash tree (Old English æsc influenced or substituted by Old Norse askr).
Bracken : 1: Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Breacáin ‘descendant of Breacán’ a personal name from a diminutive of breac ‘speckled spotted’ which was borne by a 6th-century Christian saint who lived at Ballyconnel County Cavan and was famous as a healer; Saint Bricin's Military Hospital Dublin is named in his honor.2: Irish: from Ó Bragáin see Bragan.3: English: topographic name from Middle English braken ‘bracken’ (from Old English bræcen or Old Norse brakni) or a habitational name from a place called with this word such as Bracken in East Yorkshire Bracken Fold in Westmorland or Bracon Ash in Norfolk.4: German: especially in the north probably a topographic name from Middle Low German brake ‘brushwood fallow land copse’ an element of many field and placenames.
Ceniza : Hispanic (Philippines): from Spanish ceniza ‘ash’ with reference to Miércoles de Ceniza or Ash Wednesday an important Christian religious event.
Dash : 1: English: variant of Ash with fused Old French preposition d(e) ‘of from’ a topographic name for someone who lived near an ash tree or a habitational name from a place called with the Old English word æsc such as Ash in Derbyshire Devon Dorset Herefordshire Kent Shropshire Somerset and Surrey and Ashe in Devon and Hampshire. Compare Nash.2: English: nickname perhaps from Middle English dasch(e) dassh(e) daish ‘violent or sharp blow’.3: Americanized form of German Dasch.4: Indian: variant of Das.
Del Tufo : Italian: topographic name from tufo ‘tuff’ (a porous rock formed from volcanic ash) or ‘tufa’ (a porous rock formed by precipitation of calcium carbonate from water for example near mineral springs).
Dufresne : French: topographic name for someone who lived near a prominent ash tree from Old French fresne ‘ash’ (from Latin fraxinus) or a habitational name for someone from Le Fresne the name of several places in the northern part of France named with this word. It is formed with fused preposition and definite article du ‘from the’. Compare Ash Ashe Defrain Dufrane and Dufrene.
Esch : German:: 1: habitational name from any of several places called Esch from Old High German asc ‘ash’ or a topographic name for someone who lived near a prominent ash tree.2: from Middle High German ezzisch ‘communally owned seeded field’ hence a topographic name for someone who lived by an area where grain was grown or perhaps a status name for someone who owned such land.3: altered form of Swiss German Oesch a cognate of the above. This surname in any of the possible senses and origins is also found in France (Alsace and Lorraine). Compare Ash Eash and Esh.
Eschen : German: probably a habitational name from Eschen near Bayreuth of which the original form was Middle High German ze den eschen ‘at the ash trees’ (from the dative plural of esch ‘ash’).
Eschenfelder : German: topographic name for someone living by an ash tree or ash wood in open country from Middle High German esche ‘ash’ + feld ‘open country’. Compare Ashenfelter.
Fiveash : English: probably a topographic name for someone who lived in a place distinguished by five ash trees from Middle English five ‘five’ + ashe ‘ash (tree)’. Five Ashes in Hadlow Down Sussex was so named around 1512.
Frain : 1: English (of Norman origin): topographic name for someone who lived near an ash tree or ash wood from Old French fraisne fresne ‘ash’ (from Latin fraxinus).2: Irish: variant of Franey 1.3: French: habitational name from a place in the Vosges named Frain.
Frenette : 1: Altered form of French Fernet (via the intermediate form Frenet; compare 2 below) reflecting the Canadian and American French practice of sounding the final -t. Compare Fernette.2: Alternatively perhaps an altered form of French Frenet: topographic name for someone who lived on a property of which ash trees were a characteristic feature from a derivative of frêne (Old French fresne) ‘ash tree’.3: In some cases possibly also French: from the feminine form of Frenet (see 2 above).
Frenier : French: topographic name for someone who lived where there was an abundance of ash trees from a derivative of French frêne (Old French fresne) ‘ash tree’. This surname is very rare in France; in North America it seems to be an altered form of the equally rare variant Frenière (see Freniere).
Gosnell : English:: 1: perhaps a habitational name from Goss Hall in Ash Kent recorded as Gosehale in 1210–12 and as Gosenhale (in a surname) in 1230. It may have denoted ‘Gosa's nook of land’ (Old English Gōsa genitive singular Gōsan + halh dative singular hale). By the early 1200s a member of this Kent family had apparently acquired property in Fritton Suffolk where the surname subsequently ramified in the later medieval and early modern periods.2: apparently a habitational name from Gonsal in Condover Shropshire but the place name is recorded in medieval documents only as a manorial surname (de Gosenhull) and it is possible that the place was named after a 13th-century owner who came from elsewhere. On heraldic grounds the Shrops family has been tentatively identified with the Suffolk/Kent family in 1 above. The early spellings of the Shrops name however consistently point to a derivation from Old English hyll ‘hill ’ thus ‘Gosa's hill’ not ‘Gosa' s nook of land’. While the possibility cannot be ruled out that Gosenhull was a local re-interpretation of Gosenhale the linguistic and the heraldic evidence are not easily reconciled.3: nickname from Middle English gos + nol ‘goose head’ or ‘goose neck’ perhaps either for someone with the intelligence of a goose or someone with a stubborn personality. Compare Gosnold.
Hesk : from Eske (ER Yorks) with the addition of prosthetic H-. The place-name is recorded as Asch in 1086 and Esc in 1249 and derives from Old English æsc ‘ash tree’ with influence from Old Scandinavian eski ‘place overgrown with ash trees’.
Hodsoll : from Hodsoll Street in Ash (Kent) probably named with an Old English personal name *Hodd (genitive *Hoddes) + Old English sol ‘muddy pool’ or hol ‘hole hollow’.
Josiah : English: from the Hebrew Biblical name Josiah understood as ‘God supports’ but the subject of alternative speculations such as ‘despair (from ya'ash) of God’.
Lamanna : Italian (southern):: 1: (also La Manna): topographic name from manna a term denoting a type of ash tree + the definite article la.2: from a shortened form of Alamanna an ethnic name from the ancient Germanic tribal group the Alemanni. The name is widespread in southern Italy. Compare Lamagna.
Lizardi : Basque: topographic name for someone who lived by an ash wood from lizar(r) ‘ash tree’ + -di a suffix denoting abundance.
Manna : 1: Italian (southern): from the feminine form of Manno.2: Italian (southern): nickname or perhaps metonymic occupational name from manna ‘manna or honeydew’ in Sicily also denoting a liqueur obtained from the ash tree and used in medicine as a purgative.3: Indian (West Bengal) and Bangladeshi: Mahishya (agrarian caste) name of unexplained etymology.
Mardell : 1: probably a variant of Marden with -dell substituted for -den. The surname Marden occurs in Essex Herts and Kent from place-names in those counties; it has a long history in Stanford Rivers (next to Marden Ash) where Murdall is recorded in 1572. Epping where Mardell appears in 1740 is just to the west of Stanford Rivers. Marden Ash is in Tewin (Herts) where the 1572 bearer of Murdall is recorded. 2: perhaps a reduced form of Mardley from Mardleybury in Welwyn (Herts) which is recorded as Merdelai in 1086 Mardele in 1274 Mardeleye in 1327. The place-name derives from Old English mearð ‘marten weasel’ + lēah ‘wood woodland clearing’ with late addition of burg ‘fortress’. The reduction could have been motivated by confusion with the name in (1).
Marden : 1: English: habitational name from any of several places so called in Kent Essex Surrey Hertfordshire and Sussex or from Meriden (Warwickshire) or Merriden Farm (Surrey). Marden (Kent) derives from Old English (ge)mǣre ‘boundary border’ + denn ‘woodland pasture’. Marden Ash (Essex) and The Mardens in Caterham (Surrey) derive from Old English (ge)mǣre + Old English denu ‘valley’ denoting a valley that formed a border such as a parish boundary. Marden Hill in Tewin (Hertfordshire) Marden Park in Godstone (Surrey) Meriden (Warwickshire) and Merriden Farm in Dorking (Surrey) all denote ‘pleasant valley’ from Old English myrig + Old English denu. East Marden North Marden and Up Marden (Sussex) derive from Old English (ge)mǣre ‘boundary’ + dūn ‘hill’.2: English: habitational name from Marden in Herefordshire. The place takes its name from the district name Maund (see Maund) + Old English worthign ‘enclosure’.3: English: perhaps occasionally a habitational name from Marden in Wiltshire. The placename probably means ‘fertile valley’ from Old English mearg ‘marrow fat’ + denu ‘valley’.4: English (Devon): variant of Mardon a habitational name apparently from Mardon in Hennock (Devon). The placename may derive from Old English (ge)mǣre ‘boundary border’ + dūn ‘hill’.
Molland : 1: from Molland (Devon) which is recorded as Mollanda in 1086. The place-name derives from an uncertain initial element (perhaps related to the river Mole but unlikely to be from the Mole itself as no medieval forms for the river-name have been found) + Old English land ‘land’. 2: from Molland Farm in Ash next Sandwich or a lost Molland in Cliffe (both Kent). The place-names probably derive from Old English māl ‘bargaining tax rent’ + land ‘land’; compare Modern English molland ‘land for which rent was paid in commutation of feudal service’ (see OED). 3: there may have been some confusion with Mouland.
Nash : 1: English: topographic name for someone who lived by an ash tree a variant of Ash by misdivision of Middle English atten ash ‘at the ash’ or a habitational name from any of the many places in England and Wales named Nash from this phrase as for example Nash in Buckinghamshire Herefordshire or Shropshire. The name was established from an early date in Wales and Ireland.2: Jewish: possibly an Americanized form of one or more similar (like-sounding) Jewish surnames.
Nethercott : English (Devon and Somerset): habitational name from one or more of the many minor places called Nethercott in Devon (the placename occurs in the parishes of Alverdiscott Braunston Broadwood Kelly Broadwoodwidger Chawleigh Iddesleigh Lifton Oakford Parkham Rose Ash Spreyton and Tetcott) or from Nethercote (Northamptonshire) or from Nethercote in Lewknor or Nethercott in Tackley (both in Oxforshire). All of the placenames derive from Middle English nether ‘lower’ + cot ‘cottage’ (Old English neothera cot) except Nethercote in Lewknor Oxfordshire which derives from Middle English other ‘other’ (Old English ōther) + cot with the N- due to misdivision of Middle English atten other.
Nutcombe : from one or more of the places so named in Devon such as Nutcombe in Combe Martin which is recorded as Notecombe in 1473 Nutcombe in East Allington recorded as Nottecombe in 1430 Nutcombe in Rose Ash recorded as Nuttecumb in 1238 and Nutcombe in Clayhanger recorded as Notcomb in 1334. The place-names all derive from Old English hnutu ‘nut nut-tree’ + cumb ‘valley’.
Overland : 1: Norwegian (mainly Øverland): habitational name from any of some twenty farmsteads mainly in Telemark and on the west coast named Øverland Overland from øver over ‘upper’ + land ‘(piece of) land farmstead'.2: English (Norfolk and Cambridgeshire): apparently a habitational name from Overland Farm in Ash next Sandwich (Kent) although the name is now strongly associated with northern East Anglia. The placename derives from Old English ōfer ‘bank’ + land ‘land’.3: English: possibly a variant of Overman.
Rash : 1: English: from Middle English asche ‘ash tree’ (Old English æsc) from the misdivision of Middle English atter ashe ‘at the ash tree’ (Old English æt thǣre æsce). Compare Ash Nash Tash.2: Americanized form of German Rasch (and probably also Resch) and a variant of the same Jewish surname.3: Americanized form of Polish Raś or Czech and Sorbian Raš (see Ras 2) or of their Germanized form Rasch 3.4: Americanized form of French Canadian Raiche.
Sciberras : denoting someone with grey hair from Arabic xahab er-rās literally ‘the ash colour of the head’ (according to Cassar) using Maltese spelling conventions; better perhaps Arabic shāhib ar-ra's ‘pale or dull of head’.
Tash : 1: English (Norfolk): topographic name for someone who lived by an ash tree from Middle English asche ‘ash tree’ (Old English æsc) by misdivision of the phrase atte asche ‘at the ash tree’. Compare Ash Nash Rash.2: Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a maker or seller of bags and purses from German Tasche ‘bag’ ‘purse’. Compare Tashman.
Van Essen : Dutch:: 1: habitational name for someone from the German city of Essen or from any of the places in the Netherlands called Essen.2: possibly also a habitational name for someone from Hesse in Germany (see Hessen 1).3: variant of Van den Esse a topographic name for someone living near an ash tree.
Viney : English (Hampshire and Wiltshire):: 1: from one or more of the minor places called with Middle English fin-hawe ‘wood-heap enclosure’ (Old English fīn-haga) such as Viney's Wood in Crundale (Kent) Vinehall in Mountfield (Sussex) and the lost Vinals Farm in Cuckfield (also Sussex). Pronunciation of initial f- as /v/ was common in medieval Surrey Sussex and Kent.2: from Venhay in Rose Ash (Devon) named from Old English fenn ‘marsh’ + (ge)hæg ‘enclosure’. Pronunciation of initial f- as /v/ is typical of Devon dialect.
Vivash : apparently from some place named from five ash trees such as Five Ashes Farm in Colemore and Priors Dean (Hants) though none of a relevant age has been firmly identified. If so the V- will be due to south-western voicing of the initial consonant. Medstead (see the 1644 bear below) is about six miles from Colemore.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain, ©2021, University of the West of England
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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