Benfield
A mostly English place-name surname, originally meaning someone from Benefield in Northamptonshire.
The #6,593 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 60,091 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Benfield is generally explained as a habitational surname from Benefield, a place in Northamptonshire. The place-name is usually taken to mean something like “Bene’s field” or “field associated with a person named Bene,” though the personal-name element is not always certain in older sources. The surname later spread beyond its original locality as people moved away from the village name.
History
19th-century surname dictionaries treat Benfield as a local name, especially connecting it with Benefield in Northamptonshire. The form also appears in London records, showing the usual migration from a place-name origin into wider urban use. Variant spellings and related forms such as Beningfield reflect normal historical variation in spelling.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century source also connected Benfield with places in other counties, but Benefield in Northamptonshire is the standard explanation.
From the historical record
“London. BENFIELD. Places in cos. Northampt. and Durham. BENGE. A curt or nicked form of Benjamin. BENII ACOCK. See Benjamin. BENHAjM, a tything in co. Berks. BENJAMIN. The personal name. As a surname it is chiefly, but not altogether,”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom