Greenleaf
Probably a nickname or character-name surname, though some 19th-century writers also suggested an Old English or local-place origin.
The #8,373 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 78,084 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is transparently made of green + leaf, but its surname history is less certain than the spelling suggests. One explanation, found in older surname books, links it to a pageant or Robin Hood character called Greenleaf, from whom the surname could have spread as a hereditary nickname. Another possibility raised by some scholars is that it is a local or altered form of an older English name, but that derivation is less secure.
History
Lower explicitly records Greenleaf as the name of a character in Robin Hood pageants, and Bardsley repeats this idea while noting broader links with other 'Green-' surnames. Other 19th-century works speculate about an Old English or place-name source instead, but do not establish it firmly. In modern use the name is uncommon in the United States, with a small but steady presence.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower even notes a signboard inn called the Green Man that took its name from the landlord’s own costume, showing how theatrical and nickname-like some green surnames could be.
From the historical record
“Kent, or of ' Greenwish,' a local name. GREENLEAF. A character in the pa- geants of Robin Hood. See Eng. Surn. i. 184, note. GREENMAN. Perhaps the same as Greener ; or it may be a keeper of game, from the colour of his costume in the old times of " vert aud venison." A keeper of Rroyle park, at Ringmer, co. Sussex…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom