Caesar
A Roman name made famous by Julius Caesar, later adopted in England as a surname and occasionally used as a given-name-based family name.
The #9,013 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 85,101 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname ultimately comes from the Roman family name Caesar, whose exact original meaning is uncertain. In English surname use, the name is best explained as a learned adoption of the classical Roman name rather than a native occupational or place-name. One historical English family carried the name after an ancestor named Caesare or Caesar Adelmare, and the famous Sir Julius Caesar later fixed it as a hereditary surname in his line.
History
The name is strongly associated with the Roman dictator Julius Caesar, so it entered later European naming largely through classical prestige. In England it appears as a relatively uncommon surname, especially connected with the family of Sir Julius Caesar, a prominent legal official under James I and Charles I. Bardsley notes that forms like Kaiser and Cayzer reflect older English adaptations, while Caesar is the more scholarly or immigrant form.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Sir Julius Caesar, one of the best-known English bearers of the name, was Master of the Rolls in the early 17th century and was not related to the ancient Roman dictator.
From the historical record
“whether fort or castle." CAESAR The celebrated Sir Julius Ca3sar, master of the rolls, temp. James I., was son of one of Queen Elizabeth's phy- sicians, who according to Fuller's Worthies, (ii. 326) was descended from the ancient family of tlie Dalmarii in Italy. In the epitaph on Sir Julius Caisar, written b}'…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom