Orth
A surname with several possible roots, including an old personal name and a place-name element meaning “guard.”
The #5,482 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 48,660 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is likely to have more than one source. The historical dictionaries point to an old personal name, Old English Ord or a related German/Dutch form, and also to a place-name or byname linked with a word for “guard,” as in Old English weard. In some cases it may be tied to local names such as Orthorpe or other northern English forms, but the evidence is not decisive enough to assign one single origin for all bearers.
History
The name appears in English and continental records in several similar spellings, which suggests that different families may have arrived at the same short form independently. In Britain it is often treated as a variant of names like Ord or as a surname taken from a place-name. The form is also well established in German- and Dutch-speaking areas, so modern bearers may have different ancestral lines behind the same spelling.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because Orth is so short, it is easy to mistake for a clipped form, but older surname dictionaries treated it as a real inherited family name with several possible medieval roots.
From the historical record
“Willi It Cheater (1660-80), p. «. Richard Clen-orth, oT Bed^, co. Lane. 1673: ibid. Ralph Cleewoith, ofRiiley, co. Lane, Jttu^ndmaH, 1730: ibid. (1711-40), p. 5<)-”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances