Congdon
A Cornish surname from a place name meaning “neck” or “promontory,” referring to a narrow stretch of land or hillside spur.
The #8,449 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 78,963 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Congdon is a habitational surname taken from Congdon in South Petherwin, Cornwall, and from related Cornish place-names such as Congdon Shop in North Hill. The place-name is explained as coming from a Cornish Brittonic form meaning “the neck” or “promontory,” referring to a narrow ridge or projecting piece of land. Older writers also connected it with a topographic feature rather than a personal name.
History
The surname is strongly associated with Cornwall and appears in nineteenth-century surname dictionaries as a Cornish local name. It is one of several Cornish surnames built from place-names that describe the landscape. Later references continue to treat it as a regional Cornish surname rather than a widespread English one.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The name was linked by one source to a hill spur or “neck” of land, which is exactly the kind of rugged terrain that shaped many Cornish place-names.
From the historical record
“Connor. CONGDON. From Congdon in South Petherwin. (There is Congdon Shop in North Hill.) From conna-deuy the neck or promontory on the hill. CONNOCK, CONOCK. « The name Conock or Con- nock signifies rich, prosperous, thriving, successful, of which name and family those in Cornwall are descended from the…”
— Patronymica Cornu-Britannica; or, the etymology of Cornish surnames