Maple
A surname usually referring to someone who lived by a maple tree or a place named for maples.
The #7,268 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 67,338 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname most likely began as a local or topographic name for someone who lived near a maple tree, or in a place identified by maples. The old English word behind it is usually given as mapul, meaning “maple.” Some 19th-century writers also connected related names to places such as Mapledore or Mapleston, reinforcing the tree-based explanation.
History
English records show Maple and related forms as local surnames, and later surname forms such as Maples, Mapleston, and Mapleson appear in the same family of names. The name is not especially common as a surname, but it has survived into modern English-speaking countries, including the United States. Earlier scholarship occasionally treated some similar-looking forms as variants or place-names rather than separate surnames.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A few older surname dictionaries group Maple with names like Appledore and Maple-durham because they are all built from tree names plus place-name endings.
From the historical record
“MANWARING = Mainwaring, q.v. MAPLE \ (Eng.) Dweller at the Maple- MAPLESJ Tree(s [O.E. mapul-treif\ MAPLESON I Mabel's Son: v. under Mabb. 2 for Mapieston, q.v. MAPLESTON (Eng.) Dweller at the Maple's Enclosure [O.E. mapul (-treo), maple ) tiin, enclosure]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)