Chism
Likely a shortened or altered form of Chisholm, an old Scottish surname.
The #4,307 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 37,410 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is generally explained as a reduced or simplified form of Chisholm, especially in American usage. Chisholm itself is traditionally linked to a place-name of uncertain Gaelic origin, often taken to mean something like 'barley enclosure' or a similar local-topographic sense. CHISM therefore looks less like a separate root surname than a later spelling and pronunciation development.
History
The historical excerpts explicitly note 'Chism for Chisholm,' which supports the idea that Chism arose as an altered form of that older surname. In the United States, the name appears in census records and in northeastern family-name lists, suggesting it settled as an independent spelling in English-speaking North America. As with many shortened surname forms, the spelling likely became fixed through local pronunciation and record-keeping rather than by a single formal change.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 1901 Scottish surname study explicitly glossed this name as 'Chism for Chisholm.'
From the historical record
“Chism for Chisholm. Chumley Coburn Cholmondeley.”
— Varieties and Synonymes of Surnames and Christian Names in Ireland