Chea
A rare surname whose origin is not securely established from the available excerpts, and which may be a shortened or variant spelling of another name.
The #7,411 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 68,732 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The historical excerpts provided do not contain a clear entry for Chea itself, so its derivation cannot be stated with confidence. In English surname material, short forms like this are often reduced spellings, dialect forms, or scribal variants of a longer surname. On present evidence, the safest conclusion is that Chea is an uncertain surname form rather than one with a firmly recoverable literal meaning.
History
The name appears in the excerpts only as an incidental occurrence in older records, not as a well-explained headword. That usually means the source was illustrating a spelling in documents rather than tracing the name’s origin. As a result, there is not enough evidence here to describe a definite historical source-area or family history.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In the 2010 U.S. Census, Chea was a relatively uncommon surname, with about 4,492 bearers.
From the historical record
“1560. Marrifd-John Wilkinaon and' MargretAdihed! Hck. Preilboiy (.Chea.). '^i6ia. BapL-liabell Adihed: Ibid. Rernold Adthrd, 1518, Po« Shrigley, - - reilbntr: EaitChea.ii.aiR.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances