Fish
A name most often taken from the fish itself—either as a nickname or, less often, from someone connected with fish or fishing.
The #1,425 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,387 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname comes from the common word for a fish, ultimately from Old English and related Germanic forms. In surname use, it could begin as a nickname for someone thought to be fish-like, or simply as the plain animal name adopted as a byname. Older scholars also note that some fish-looking surnames in general may conceal other origins, but the generic surname Fish is straightforwardly explained from the noun.
History
Lower explicitly treats Fish as a separate surname and points readers to related forms, while Bardsley remarks that the generic name Fish is one of the few fish-names likely to be literal. The surname is well established in England and later spread to North America through ordinary migration. It remains much less common than occupational surnames such as Fisher.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century surname writers repeatedly warned that many fish-related surnames are deceptive—but they treated Fish itself as one of the rare cases that probably does mean exactly what it says.
From the historical record
“shelter. FISH. See Fishes, below. FISIIBOURNE. A parish in Sussex. FISHPOND. From residence near one. Ad Fispond, H.R. FISHER. This seems to be a suf- ficiently obvious derivation from the calling of a fisherman, especially since ' fisher ' occurs in our version of the New Testament in this sense; and Leland in his…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Fish
- Albert Fish (1870–1936)
- Mardy Fish (b. 1981)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.