Bjork
A Scandinavian surname meaning “birch,” usually from a place name or a nickname tied to birch trees.
The #9,767 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 93,080 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Bjork is a Scandinavian surname built on the word for “birch,” from Old Norse bjǫrk and related modern forms such as Swedish björk and Norwegian/Danish bjørk. As a surname, it could refer to someone who lived by a birch tree or birch grove, or to a place named for birches. In some cases it may also have begun as a descriptive byname for someone associated with that landscape feature.
History
The surname is especially common in Swedish and other Scandinavian naming traditions, and it appears in anglicized form as Bjork in countries such as the United States. The spelling without the umlaut is often a simplification used in English-speaking contexts. A well-known modern bearer is the Icelandic singer Björk, whose stage name comes from the same word.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The word behind the surname also survives in many Nordic place names and in the familiar Scandinavian common noun for the birch tree.