Lamb
A surname that can come from the animal word “lamb,” often as a nickname, house sign, or sometimes from the short form of Lambert.
The #561 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 5,153 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname most directly reflects the word for a young sheep, from Old English and related Germanic forms. In medieval England it could be a nickname for someone thought gentle or meek, or a name taken from a house or inn sign showing a lamb. Some surname writers also note that Lamb can be a shortened form of the personal name Lambert, which made the name even more common.
History
Medieval records show early spellings such as le Lambe, and the name appears in England by the 13th century. Writers on English surnames have long pointed out its double life: sometimes a true nickname, sometimes linked to the popular given name Lambert. The surname spread widely in Britain and later to North America, where it remains fairly common.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Charles Lamb jokingly asked who first gave his family such a “gentle name,” but older surname scholars thought many Lambs likely came from house signs rather than shepherding.
From the historical record
“hamlet in Lincolnshire. LAMB LAMBE. Charles Lamb asks, " AMio first imposed thee, gentle name?" and jumps, or rather skips, to the conclu- sion that his ancestors were shepherds ; but there is little doubt that the surname was derived from a common sign of houses. The Second Person in the Trinity, in allu- sion to…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Lamb
- Willis Lamb (1913–2008)
- Charles Lamb (1775–1834)
- William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (1779–1848)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.