Origin
Dunn : 1: Irish: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Duinn Ó Doinn ‘descendant of Donn’ a byname meaning ‘brown-haired’ or ‘chieftain’. Compare Dunne. This name has sometimes been Anglicized as Brown.2: English: nickname for a dark complexioned or swarthy man from Middle English dun ‘dun dark’ (Old English dunn ‘dull brown’).3: Scottish: habitational name from Dun in Angus named with Gaelic dùn ‘fort’. Compare Dun.4: German (Dünn): nickname for a thin slender person from Middle High German dünne ‘thin small slight weak’.5: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 鄧 see Deng.
Denning : 1: English: from the Middle English personal name Denning a derivative of Old English Dynna a name of uncertain origin but perhaps derived from dunn ‘brown dun-colored’.2: Irish (northern): variant of Dineen.3: German: habitational name from Denning in Bavaria.
Downey : 1: Irish: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Dúnadhaigh ‘descendant of Dúnadhach’ a personal name meaning ‘fortress-holder’ (from dún ‘fortress fortified hill’).2: Irish: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Maol Dhomhnaigh or of Mac Giolla Dhomnaigh (see Maloney).3: Scottish: habitational name from the Scottish barony of Downie or Duny in the parish of Monikie in Angus (on Tayside) named from Gaelic dùn ‘hill’ + the locative suffix -ach.4: English: habitational name from any of several places in Devon called Downhayne or Downhays particularly Downhayne in Colyton. The placename derives from singular and plural forms of Old English (ge)haeg ‘enclosure’ (in later Devon usage ‘farm’) situated on a hill (Old English dūn).5: English: topographic name denoting someone who lived either ‘(at the) hilly island’ Middle English doun(e) dun(e) ‘hill elevation’ + ei ‘island’ (Old English dūn + īeg) or someone who lived ‘(at the) dark island’ Middle English don dun(ne) ‘dark’ + ei ‘island’ (Old English dunn + īeg). However it is not certain that this name survived as a hereditary surname.6: Americanized form of French Danis.
Dumbell : 1: see Dumville. 2: from a diminutive of dumb ‘mute; dumbfounded; reticent; stupid’. Compare Hants dialect dummell ‘slow to understand’ dumble ‘stupid’. Some examples may belong at (1).in some instances Dumbulle may be for dunn bull; compare Duncalf.
Dunmore : 1: English: habitational name possibly from Dunsmore Heath in Warwickshire with loss of medial s recorded as Dunnesmor in 1235 and Dounesmor in 1330 from an Old English personal name Dunn + mōr ‘moor’.2: Scottish: variant of Dunsmore.
Dunner : 1: German: habitational name for someone from a lost place near Ditzingen (near Leonberg) called Dunn.2: German (Dünner): habitational name for someone from Dünne near Herford.3: English: perhaps from an early Middle English survival of the Old English personal name Dunnere.4: Irish: probably an Anglicized form of an Irish name perhaps of Downey.
Dunsford : English: habitational name from Dunsford in Devon from the genitive case of the Old English personal name Dunn (see Dunn) + Old English ford ‘ford’. Although Dunsforth in Yorkshire also gave rise to the surname it appears not to have survived the medieval period.
Dunstan : English:: 1: from a Middle English personal name Dunstan (Old English Dūnstān) from dūn ‘hill’ + stān ‘stone’. This name was borne by a 10th-century archbishop of Canterbury who was later canonized.2: habitational name from Dunston (Derbyshire Lincolnshire Norfolk) from the Old English personal name Dunn + tūn ‘settlement’. Occasionally the name may also arise from Dunstan (Northumberland) from Old English dūn ‘hill’ + stān ‘stone’.3: variant of Cornish Dunstone a habitational name from Dunstone near Ermington (in Yealmpton Devon) or perhaps from Dunstone near Widdecombe (Devon).
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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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