Apple
A surname that usually began as a name for someone from an apple-rich place, or from a local name built on the apple tree itself.
The #5,050 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 44,437 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually explained from Old English *æppel*, meaning "apple," especially in place-names where apple trees or orchards were prominent. In that sense, Apple would often be a habitational surname, referring to someone who came from a place called with the apple element, rather than directly to the fruit as a nickname. Early surname writers also noted a number of related local names such as Appleby, Appleton, and Appleford.
History
Medieval records show forms such as de Apple, which fit a locational surname pattern. The name is uncommon as a standalone surname, but it belongs to a larger family of English surnames built from apple-place names across the country. In later usage, Apple may also have been simplified from longer surnames with the same root.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers specifically used Apple as an example of a place-name element meaning a place where apples grew in abundance.
From the historical record
“f. Ij'dX., pepo. a melon : cp. the Norman Dial, pepin, ' an apple raised from seed'] Pepin is one of the most important names m early mediaeval French history. Pepin of Landen (Brabant) — d. A.D. 640 — was the progenitor of the CaroHngian”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)