Chapin
Usually an English surname from Chapman, originally meaning a trader or merchant.
The #3,510 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 30,344 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally explained as a shortened or altered form of Chapman. Chapman comes from Old English ceap or ceapan, referring to buying, selling, or bargaining, so the underlying sense is “merchant” or “trader.” Some 19th-century writers also treated Chapin as a spelling corruption of Chapman rather than a fully separate name.
History
The name appears in English-speaking records as a variant related to Chapman, and it later became established as a surname in its own right. It is especially familiar in North America, where Chapin is well attested in historical records and place-name traditions. The same surname form also occurs in French and Spanish contexts, but the English occupational explanation is the one most often given in the cited sources.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 19th-century surname dictionary explicitly glossed Chapin as “a corruption of Chapman.”
From the historical record
“ship. CHAPIN. A corruption of Chapman ; a trader, a shopman. CHAPMAN. The same as Chipman, a trader, a shopman; from the Saxon ceapan or cypan, to buy or sell. Sax., ceap, a bargain, a price ; one who cheapens, asks the price, buys. CHARLES. (Ger.) From carl, strong, stout, courageous, and valiant. The Hungarians…”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names