Cornwell
A surname from English place names, first used for people from Cornwall or from places called Cornwell.
The #2,950 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 25,374 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Cornwell is mainly a locational surname. In older English usage it could refer to someone from Cornwall, the southwest English county; the name of the county ultimately comes from the Cornish tribal/territorial name meaning roughly “Cornish people” or “peninsula people.” The same surname could also arise from English places called Cornwell, such as the Oxfordshire parish mentioned in early sources, so not every family with the name has the same origin.
History
Early records show the name in medieval and later English forms such as Cornwaleys and Cornwallis for people associated with Cornwall. The surname Cornwell appears in English county records and later spreads beyond its places of origin, including families in Middlesex, Cambridgeshire, Sussex, and elsewhere. Because the spelling overlaps with Cornwall and Cornwallis, historical records sometimes blur the forms.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some early surname lists grouped Cornwell with Cornwall and Cornwallis because all three can point back to the same idea: a person from Cornwall, or from a place named after it.
From the historical record
“CORN^VALL. See Cornewall. CORNWELL. A parish in Oxfordshire. CORNWALLIS. Originally applied to a native of Cornwall ; so Wallis toa Welsh- man, Londonoys to a Londoner, &c. Le Cornwaleys, Coruvaleis, &c. H.E. CORRIE. CURRIE. Sir Walter Scott has introduced this ancient word into the beautiful funeral song of the…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom