Harsh
A surname that may come from a nickname for someone stern or severe, though some early references suggest it may also be connected with place-based or variant forms.
The #9,544 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 90,621 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Harsh is most plausibly a nickname surname from Middle English harsh, meaning stern, rough, bitter, or severe. That sense is supported by older surname collections that gloss related forms as “harsh” or “bitter,” pointing to a descriptive label for a person’s temperament or manner. Because the historical record is thin, some spellings may also overlap with other surnames or local forms, so the exact route into modern Harsh is not always certain.
History
The name appears to be relatively uncommon in the historical record and in modern use. Nineteenth-century surname writers sometimes grouped similar-looking forms with Harsh or treated them as possible variants, which suggests the spelling was not always stable. In the United States today it is a small surname, with concentrations that likely reflect later migration rather than a single obvious regional center.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
English and Scots surname writers often used harsh, rough, and bitter almost interchangeably when explaining nickname surnames, so Harsh could have described temperament rather than appearance.
From the historical record
“BorsfoU. — Local, 'at the hors- fall,' probably the hoarse fall, the loud, harsh cataract; 11,£. /ion, , Jioam. But c£ Yorks. dial. Hose, Hone, a deep vale between mounuins (Hutton, Tour to Caves), and /all, a valley, ' hanger ' (Lucas, Nidderdale), The surname”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances