Edens
An English surname that may be a patronymic or a spelling variant tied to the given names Ede, Ida, or Eden.
The #5,678 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 50,531 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is most likely connected with one of several short medieval personal names rather than a single fixed source. The historical excerpts suggest it was sometimes linked with Ede/Ida and related forms, and it may also overlap with surnames built from the given name Eden. Because the evidence is indirect and early writers often treated similar-looking names as interchangeable, the exact root is not certain.
History
The name appears in British surname material as a relatively uncommon form, with spellings that overlap other short-name surnames such as Eden and Edes. The excerpt from Weekley indicates that similar forms were sometimes confused in historical records, which makes the exact development of Edens hard to pin down. In modern use it survives chiefly as a minority surname in English-speaking countries, including the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname scholars sometimes grouped Edens with other short surnames that look like first-name derivatives, because medieval spelling was highly fluid.
From the historical record
“Eadens. Edens. 566 Ustace. Evans.”
— Varieties and Synonymes of Surnames and Christian Names in Ireland