Blizzard
An English surname most likely from a nickname connected with stormy weather or a brisk, blustering person.
The #7,481 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 69,334 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is usually treated as an English nickname surname. Its exact origin is not certain, but it is plausibly connected with words for a bluster of wind, a violent storm, or a person thought to be stormy, lively, or forceful in manner. Some older writers also compared it with related forms such as Blisset/Blisset, but that suggestion is tentative rather than settled.
History
The name is attested in English surname collections, though the older scholarship does not give a fully secure derivation. It appears to belong to the broad class of surnames formed from vivid descriptive nicknames, especially those inspired by weather, temper, or physical presence. Modern bearers are found chiefly in English-speaking countries, especially the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Despite sounding unmistakably wintry, the surname is older than modern weather usage of the word in some places, and its surname history is still a little murky.
From the historical record
“{Et, p. 189) English Blisset, Blessed. (Hard) English Blizzard. (Hari, warrior) French Blesser, Plessier. Of an opposite meaning may be the following, wliicli seem to be from Gothic saurga^ saurja, Ang.- Saxon sorg, sorh, Dutch zorg, Eng. sorroiv. Though possibly the original sense may have been”
— The Teutonic Name-System applied to the family names of France, England and Germany