Lundquist
A Swedish surname meaning “Lund twig” or “grove branch,” built from a place-name element plus a common -quist ending.
The #5,110 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 45,053 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Lundquist is a Swedish surname formed from two elements: lund, meaning “grove” or “small wooded area,” and quist, an older spelling of kvist, meaning “twig” or “branch.” In surname use, the first element often points to a farm, village, or other place associated with a lund, while the second is part of the older Scandinavian surname style that often uses nature words and archaising spellings. The name is therefore best understood as a Swedish ornamental or locational formation built from native vocabulary.
History
This is a well-known Swedish-American surname, and the spelling with -quist reflects the older English transliteration of Swedish kvist. It appears in many immigrant-family records in the United States and is common among descendants of 19th-century Swedish migration. The name belongs to a broader pattern of Swedish surnames combining natural or place-name elements with endings like -quist, -berg, or -ström.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same root lund shows up in many Scandinavian place-names and usually means a small grove or wooded patch, not a full forest.
From the historical record
“ING, LOVETT, LOVIS, LoWLE, LoWTHERS, LoYD, LoZE- KOOT, LUBKE, LUCETT, LuCHTERPAND, LuCKHAUTT, LUDIXEN, LUGRIN, LuKER, LUMB, LuND, LUNDQUIST, LUNDSTEEN, LuNIEWSKY, LuNNEY, LuNT, LuRVEY, LURY, LUSK, LUTH, LUVINGER, LUZARDER, LyCETT, Lynam and Lynham, Lyndon, Lysaght or Lysight,”
— Suffolk Surnames (3rd ed.)