Given
A rare surname that was likely first used as a nickname or a shortened form of a personal name meaning “gift” or “given.”
The #8,784 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 82,707 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is best understood as a form of the English word given, which in older naming practice could function as a nickname or as a clipped surname from a longer personal name. In many cases, surnames built from everyday words were applied descriptively, or they arose from a personal name with a similar sound or meaning. The exact path for Given is not certain, so the safest explanation is that it is an English surname with a nickname-style origin, possibly influenced by the idea of something “given” or bestowed.
History
Given is uncommon in the United States and is more often found in Britain and Ireland, especially in areas where English-language surnames were established early. Because the form is simple and overlaps with an ordinary verb/adjective, it may also have developed independently in more than one place. Historical surname dictionaries do not give a single secure derivation, so it is usually treated as an uncertain or mixed-origin name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because it is also an everyday English word, Given can be especially tricky to trace in old records: clerks sometimes treated it like a normal word rather than a hereditary surname.
From the historical record
“Are read, each so constantly varies From the owner's trade, figure, and calling, Surnames Seem given by the rule of contraries. Mr. Box, though provoked, never doubles his fist, Mr. Burns, in his grate, has no fuel ; Mr. Playfair won't catch me at hazard or whist,”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)