Canfield
A locational surname originally referring to someone from Canfield in Essex, England.
The #3,117 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 26,708 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Canfield is a place-name surname taken from Canfield in Essex. The name is usually understood as meaning something like "open land" or "field" associated with an earlier personal or local element in the place-name, though the exact first element is not fully settled in the older sources. As a surname, it simply marked a person as coming from that locality.
History
The surname appears in English records as a habitational name and later travelled to North America with English emigrants. The 19th-century surname books explicitly connect Canfield with the Essex place-name. In the United States it became established as a family name rather than remaining tied to one particular locality.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Barber’s surname notes treat Canfield and Camfield as linked forms, reflecting the way older spellings often drifted between 'n' and 'm' sounds in handwriting and speech.
From the historical record
“"Mr. Fabel lives at Chatham, C. W. ; and in Philadelphia there are four families of Fable : also Messrs. Muse and Paradee. Mr. Versey lives at Canfield ; Mr. Pen- pliraise at Cobourg; Mr. Learn atRidgeway; Mr. Lingo at Westport ; Mr. Spellin at Toronto. Mr. Tuype, of that city, goes for printing: Mr. Nibbet seems…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom