Henry
A very common surname from the medieval personal name Henry, originally brought into English through Norman influence.
The #149 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 1,806 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Henry is a surname taken from the medieval given name Henry, which came into English through Norman French. The personal name goes back to a Germanic name built from elements meaning “home” or “estate” and “ruler,” so the underlying sense is roughly “house ruler.” As a surname, it usually began as a patronymic for the son or family of a man named Henry.
History
The name became widespread in England after the Norman Conquest, when the personal name Henry was introduced and then became popular among both nobles and common people. Lower explicitly notes that Henry is a Norman-imported personal name that generated related surnames such as Henson and the Welsh form Penry. In modern English-speaking countries, Henry is now found widely as both a surname and a given name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because the given name Henry was especially popular among kings and nobles, the surname was likely reinforced again and again by the prestige of the royal name.
From the historical record
“THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1891 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 092 512 635 Cornell University”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Henry
- Thierry Henry (b. 1977)
- Joseph Henry (1797–1878)
- Lou Henry Hoover (1874–1944)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.