Flint
Usually a name for someone associated with flint stone, though a few older writers also linked it to the place-name Flint in North Wales.
The #2,399 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 20,416 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is most plausibly from the Old English word for flint, the hard stone used for striking sparks and making tools. As with many surnames from common objects, it likely began as a nickname or topographic label for someone connected with flint deposits or flinty ground. Some older writers also suggested a connection with the Welsh town of Flint, but the stone-word explanation is the standard one.
History
The name is found in medieval English records very early, including Domesday-era evidence cited by older surname writers. It appears chiefly in England, especially in areas where surnames of local or descriptive origin became hereditary. Victorian etymologists sometimes embellished it with mythic explanations, but the straightforward stone-based origin is the one generally accepted today.
Origin
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Variant spellings
Fun fact
Flint is one of the surnames that sounds exactly like the material it is probably named for.
From the historical record
“FLINT Johannes Floccher, 1379 : ibid. p. 37. Stephanas Fletcher, 1379 : ibid. p. 42. Johannes Copyn, Jlecner^ 1379 : ioid. p. IK. lOip. George Doyre, Atcher, and Sibell Michaelwrigbt : Marriage Lie (LondonX ii. 78.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)