Dunn
A surname with several possible roots, most often from an old word for “dark” or from a place-name meaning “hill.”
The #197 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 2,183 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Dunn has more than one likely origin. In English and Scottish usage it can come from an old word for “brown, dark, or swarthy,” and early writers also treated Dun, Dunne, and related forms as old personal names. It can also be locational, from places named Dun or from the Middle English word for a hill, giving the sense “at the hill.” In Irish usage, Dunn is often an Anglicized form of Ó Duinn, from a Gaelic word meaning “brown” or “brown-haired.”
History
The surname appears early in English records in forms such as de la Dun and related spellings, showing both nickname and locational use. It also became common in Ireland through anglicized Gaelic names, especially Ó Duinn. Because these streams converged, Dunn is a widespread surname in the English-speaking world and is common in both Britain and North America.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In some older scholarship, Dunn was linked not only to “darkness” but even, more speculatively, to thunder and the god Thor, though that idea is not generally accepted today.
From the historical record
“connubial fidelity ? DUNN. Dun, Dunne, Dunna, were A-Sax. personal names, and Done, Donne, &c. are in Domesd. Kemble con- siders them " adjectives relating to the dark 0 colour of the persons," but Mr. Ferguson ratlier fancifully connects them with thunder, and withThor, the god of thunder. But that the surname is…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Dunn
- Clive Dunn (1920–2012)
- James Dunn (1901–1967)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.