Peach
An English surname that likely began as a variant of Peche/Peachey, and may also reflect a nickname or local topographic name connected with a hill or peak.
The #6,968 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 64,122 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname has more than one plausible historical explanation. One line of scholarship treats Peach as a variant of Peche or Peachey, a surname recorded in medieval forms and sometimes linked in charters to Latinized spellings such as De Peccato. Another explanation connects it with a topographic word meaning a hill, peak, or pointed place, while later writers also noted an occasional nickname sense from the fruit peach.
History
English records show Peach as part of a wider family of spellings including Peche, Peachey, and Petch. Lower’s discussion especially ties it to the baronial name Peche, and Harrison also treats Peach as related to Peche and to topographic forms meaning a peak or hill. The surname remained relatively uncommon, but it persisted in England and later spread to English-speaking countries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A medieval rebus at Lullingstone in Kent showed Sir John Peche's arms with peach-tree branches and fruit, using the fruit image to pun on the family name.
From the historical record
“PEACE, a va'r. of Pace, q.v. PEACH \ (A.-Fr.) i Bel. to Pech (France) ; PEACHE J or Dweller at a Hill, Peak [a palatal form of pecg (Le Pecq, Seine-et- Oise) : cp. Norm. Dial, pec, a hob ; and L.Ger. peek = Dut. piek, a pike = O.E. p(c, a point, pike, peak]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)