Origin
Bush : 1: English: topographic name for someone who lived by a bushy area or thicket from Middle English bush(e) ‘bush’ (probably from Old Norse buskr or an unrecorded Old English busc).2: Americanized form (translation into English) of German Busch.4: Americanized form of Czech and Slovak Buš Búš (see Bus).3: Americanized form (translation into English) of other surnames meaning ‘bush’ for example Slovenian Grm or Germ.5: Americanized form of French Boucher. Compare Busha 1.
Cutbush : from Middle English cutten ‘to cut’ + bush ‘bush thicket’ perhaps for a cutter of firewood.
Delahoussaye : French: topographic name for someone who lived by a holly bush or grove from de la houx ‘from the holly’ or a habitational name with fused preposition de ‘from’ denoting someone from a place called La Houssaye named with houx ‘holly’.
Doorn : Dutch: from doorn ‘thorn’ a topographic name for someone who lived by a thicket or thorn bush compare Doornbos. Or the habitational name Van Doorn without preposition.
Dorn : 1: German: topographic name for someone who lived by a thorn bush or thorn hedge from Middle High German dorn ‘thorn’ or a habitational name from any of numerous places called with this word. It is also found in Poland and Czechia.2: Jewish (Ashkenazic): artificial name from German Dorn ‘thorn’.3: English: habitational name from Dorn in Blockley Worcestershire which is possibly derived from British duro- ‘fort stronghold’.4: English: variant of Thorn a topographic name for someone who lived by a thorn bush or hedge (Old English Old Norse thorn) or alternatively a habitational name from a place named with Old English Old Norse thorn ‘thorn bush’ for example Thorne in Kent Somerset and South Yorkshire.
Dornbusch : 1: German: habitational name from any of various places called Dornbusch or a topographic name for someone living by a briar patch or thorn bush from Middle High German Middle Low German dorn ‘thorn’ + Middle High German busch bosch ‘bush’.2: Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): artificial name from German Dornbusch ‘thornbush briar’ (see 1 above).
Dorning : 1: Irish: variant of Dornan.2: Probably an altered form of German Dornig which is probably a nickname for someone with a sharp tongue from an adjectival derivative of Middle High German Middle Low German dorn ‘thorn’. The suffixes -ig and -ing were often interchanged in Pennsylvania German and elsewhere. The name may also refer to a sloe bush.
Dosch : German:: 1: derivative of any of several ancient Germanic personal names most probably one formed with diot ‘people race’ although there are several other possibilities.2: from Middle High German doste toste ‘leafy branch bush’ either a topographic or habitational name referring to a house bearing a sign depicting a bush or perhaps a topographic name for someone living near bushes or brush.3: variant of Dasch or Tasch.
Espy : 1: Scottish (western Scotland): from a shortened form of Gillespie.2: French: topographic name for someone living near a prominent thorn bush or in an area characterized by such vegetation from Old French espine (from Latin spina). Occasionally the name may derive from the same word used in a transferred sense of the crest or ridge of a hill.3: In some cases also an altered form of German Espey.
Holderbaum : German: topographic name for someone who lived by an elder bush a variant of Holder 1 with the addition of Middle High German boum ‘tree’ (see Holder Baum).
Hollerbach : German: habitational name from a place so named near Heilbronn or a topographic name for someone who lived by an elder bush near a stream or by a stream in a hollow a compound of Holler 3 or 4 + Middle High German bach ‘stream’.
Homer : 1: English: topographic name for a dweller by a holly bush from Middle English holm (Old English holen) + the agent suffix -er a type of formation characteristic of Hampshire and Sussex. See Holm 2.2: English: habitational name from Holmer (Herefordshire) Holmer Green (Buckinghamshire) or Homer (Devon) or else from other unrecorded placenames formed with Middle English hol(g)h + mere ‘pool by or in the hollow’ (Old English holh + mere).3: American shortened and altered form of Greek Omiros or one of its patronymic derivatives (Omirou which is found mainly in Cyprus Omiridis etc.). This was not only the name of the classical Greek epic poet (classical Greek Homēros) but was also borne by a Christian martyr venerated in the Greek Orthodox Church.4: Slovenian: variant of Homar and in North America probably also an altered form of this.
La Rosa : 1: Italian (southern; also Larosa): from rosa ‘rose’ (see Rosa) with the definite article la a topographic name for someone living by a prominent rose bush.2: Spanish: habitational name from any of the places called La Rosa in southern Spain or a short form of the surname De la Rosa.
La Spina : Italian (southern):: 1: from spina ‘thorn’ (from Latin spina) with the definite article la applied as a topographic name for someone who lived by a thorn bush or in an area of scrubland or (in a transferred sense) for someone who lived by the crest or ridge of a hill. It could also be a nickname for a tall thin spiky person.2: from a short form of a personal name formed with this word for its Christian associations for example Fiordespina Despina Malaspina.
Pybus : English (Yorkshire and Durham):: 1: perhaps a nickname for someone with a prickly temperament from Middle English pikebush ‘prickle bush’ later simplified to Pybus(h) or Pybus(k). The word probably denoted a plant such as bramble gorse or wild rose. The change may have been influenced by folk etymology re-interpreting the name as pie ‘magpie’ + bush from the habit of magpies of perching on top of tall bushes.2: alternatively a topographic or habitational name for someone who lived by a pikebush ‘prickle bush’ or in a locality so named.
Rosenstock : 1: German: topographic or habitational name referring to a house distinguished by the sign of a rose bush Middle High German rōsenstoc.2: Jewish (Ashkenazic): artificial name from the German compound Rosenstock ‘rose bush’.
Schlee : German:: 1: topographic name for someone who lived near a sloe bush or occupational name for someone who collected and sold sloes from Middle High German slēhe ‘sloe’.2: nickname from Middle High German slē ‘sluggish lethargic’.
Scroggie : Scottish: habitational name from Scroggie Hall in Balmaclellan (Kirkcudbrightshire) or from an unidentified similarly named place elsewhere in Scotland. The placename includes Scots scroggy an adjective from scrog ‘stunted or crooked bush or tree brushwood undergrowth’ thus meaning ‘full of scrogs covered with undergrowth’.
Shrubb : from Middle English shrub(be) shrob(be) ‘shrub scrubland’ (Old English scrybb). The surname may be topographic for someone who lived by a bush or on scrubland or toponymic for someone from a place so named such as Shrub Farm in Burwash (Sussex) Shrub End in Colchester (Essex) or Shrob Lodge in Passenham (Northants). A number of the Essex medieval early bearers apparently came from Shrubs in Hatfield Broad Oak (Essex).
Strieter : South German: topographic name from Middle High German struot ‘swamp bush thicket’ + -er suffix denoting an inhabitant.
Thorn : 1: English and Danish: topographic name for someone who lived by a thorn bush or hedge (Old English Old Norse thorn Middle English thorn(e) torn(e)). The name is also found in Sweden.2: English: habitational name from a place called with Old English Old Norse thorn ‘thorn bush’ (see 1 above) for example Thorne in Kent Somerset and South Yorkshire.3: North German and Danish: topographic name for someone who lived near a tower from Middle Low German torn ‘tower’.4: North German: nickname from Middle Low German torn(e) tarn ‘anger’.5: German: habitational name from the city of Thorn (Toruń in Poland) which was named with Middle High German torn ‘tower’.
Thorner : 1: German (Thörner): topographic name for someone who lived by a thorn bush or a habitational name for someone from a place called Thorn (see Thorn 3 and 4).2: German: occupational name for a watchman on a tower.3: Swedish (also Thornér): ornamental name composed of the elements torn törne ‘thorn bush’ + the suffix -er (from German) or -ér (a derivative of Latin -erius). This surname is rare in Sweden.4: English (Dorset): habitational name from Thorner in Yorkshire derived from Old English thorn ‘thorn tree’ + ofer ‘slope hill ridge’ or a topographic name from Middle English thorner ‘dweller at the thorn bush(es)’. Compare Thorne.
Trnka : Czech and Slovak: topographic name for someone living by a blackthorn bush (Prunus spinosa) Czech and Slovak trnka or a nickname for someone with eyes as dark as sloes from the same word in a transferred sense.
Van Doorn : Dutch: topographic name from Middle Dutch doorne ‘thorn bush gorse’ or a habitational name for someone from any of several places in the Netherlands called Doorn from the same word. Compare Van Dorn.
Verdoorn : Dutch: habitational name for someone from any of various places in Belgium and the Netherlands named (ten) Doorn or a topographic name for someone who lived by a thorn hedge or thorn bush Middle Dutch do(o)rne.
Verhulst : Dutch: shortened form of Van der Hulst a topographic name for someone who lived by a holly bush or grove Middle Dutch hulst ‘holly’ or a habitational name from any of various places in Belgium and the Netherlands named with this word.
Zeiler : South German:: 1: topographic name from Middle High German zīle ‘row of houses alley’ or zīl ‘thorn bush briar’ the suffix -er denoting an inhabitant.2: habitational name for someone from any of several places called Zeil or Zeilen.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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