Knopp
A surname usually traced to a German word for a bud, knob, or small rounded bump, often linked to a nickname or a place-name.
The #8,080 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 75,249 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This name is generally taken from German Knopf or Knopp, words meaning a knob, button, bud, or rounded lump. In surname use, it likely began either as a nickname for someone thought of as small or round, or as a topographic name for someone living by a rounded hill or mound. The older English surname dictionaries also treat Knopp as a local name, "at the knop," meaning from a hilltop or knob-like rise.
History
The surname appears in English records in forms such as Knoppe and Knopp by the late medieval period, and later continues in both Britain and German-speaking areas. Bardsley and related 19th-century surname works connect it especially with local-topographic naming, though German-origin forms with the same spelling are also common. In the United States, the name is found among descendants of German immigrants as well as older English lines.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same root behind this surname also appears in everyday German words for a button or knob, which is why the name can be understood quite literally.
From the historical record
“Knol^v.— Local ; v. Knoll. Knope, Knopp> Knop. — I-ocal, 'at the knop,' from residence thereon ; v. Knapp and Knipe, 1771. Married'lohn Greenfield and”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances