Knapp
Usually a nickname or occupational surname from an old word for a boy, servant, or young man; in some places it may also reflect a hilltop or knob-shaped place-name.
The #825 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 7,391 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Knapp has more than one likely source. In some early surname references it is linked to an old Germanic word for a boy, servant, or young man, from forms such as Old English cnapa and related continental words like German Knabe. Other authorities connect it with a topographic sense: a knap or knop meaning a hillock, hilltop, or rounded rise, which would suit people living near such a feature. Because both explanations appear in historical surname books, the name is best treated as having multiple possible origins rather than one single derivation.
History
The name is well established in England by the medieval and early modern period, and it appears in several regional surname collections. Lower and later surname writers especially note English topographic and nickname explanations, while Bardsley records forms that point to local names such as Knabwell and Dewsnap. The surname also has cognates and spelling parallels in German and Dutch, which helped keep the form widespread in northern Europe.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some old surname books connect Knapp with a hilltop word, so in a few cases it may literally have meant someone who lived 'by the knap.'
From the historical record
“York. KNAPP. 1. Cwfflp. A-Sax. A top or knop. Bosworth. A hillock or hna}) of a hill. Cotgrave. In Sussex, the brow of a hill is called a nab. 2. Ciiiqja. A-Sax. A son, a boy, a j-outh, iipcujc^ equivalent to the Fr. gar^on. KNAPPER. See Knapp, and the ter. mination ER. KNATCHBULL. The first recorded”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom