Benefield
An English surname from a place-name, most likely meaning someone from Benefield in Northamptonshire.
The #5,769 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 51,423 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Benefield is a locational surname, derived from the place-name Benefield in Northamptonshire. The second element is clearly Old English feld, meaning “open land” or “field”; the first element is probably a personal name or an old local word, though the exact source is not certain from the surviving evidence. In surname use, the name would originally have identified a person who came from that place.
History
19th-century surname dictionaries treat Benfield as a reduced or variant spelling of Benefield, showing that the place-name surname had already developed shortened forms. Like many English locational surnames, it would have spread when people moved away from their home parish and were identified by where they had come from. The form Benefield is also found in place-name sources for Northamptonshire, which supports the surname’s English regional origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because place-name surnames often got simplified in everyday spelling, Benefield and Benfield could end up side by side in records even when they referred to the same family line.
From the historical record
“dict (?) ) Benfield. From Benefield ; a loc n., Northants Benford. From Bainsford ; a”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)