Cornell
A surname with more than one possible source: it may come from the personal name Cornelius or from a local place-name such as Cornwall or Cornhill.
The #1,672 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 14,322 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Cornell is usually treated as an English surname with mixed possibilities. One line of explanation connects it with the personal name Cornelius, a Latin name that became common in medieval Europe. Another line treats it as a local surname, perhaps a reduced or altered form of Cornwall or a related place-name such as Cornhill, especially where local pronunciation blurred the final sounds. Older dictionaries disagree on which source is primary, so the safest view is that the name has more than one historical pathway.
History
The surname appears in English records in forms that are hard to separate cleanly from similar names like Cornel, Cornhill, and Cornelius. In some cases it was probably adopted from a place-name, while in others it may have developed from the given name Cornelius. The name is well established in Britain and later became common in North America, where it is carried by a modest but substantial number of families.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname dictionaries sometimes list Cornell right next to Cornelius and Cornhill, showing how easily medieval spellings and pronunciations could overlap.
From the historical record
“CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 092 512 635 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Cornell
- Eric Allin Cornell (b. 1961)
- Chris Cornell (1964–2017)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.