Prescott
A locational surname meaning “at the priest’s cottage” or “priest’s dwelling.”
The #2,134 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 18,188 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Prescott is usually explained as a place-name surname from Old English elements meaning “priest” and “cot/cottage, dwelling.” The historical form cited in the sources, Prestecote, points to the sense “the priest’s cottage” or “the dwelling of the priest.” Some 19th-century writers also connected it with a similar-sounding Old French word meaning “ready,” but the place-name explanation is the standard one.
History
The surname is associated with places in Lancashire, Oxfordshire, and Gloucestershire, and the Lancashire place-name was recorded very early as Prestecote. It spread as a local surname for people who came from those places, and by the 19th century it had become well established in Britain and especially in the United States. The name is also familiar in North America through figures such as the historian William H. Prescott.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The Lancashire place behind the surname was recorded in medieval Latinized forms, which helped later scholars identify the name as a very old English place-name.
From the historical record
“PRESCOT PRESCOTT Dwelling [M.E. prestU, O.E. (from Lat.-Gr.), priest ; O.E. coft cottage, dwelling] The Lancashire Prescot was Prestecote in the 12th cent. PRESLAND \ (Eng.) Dwellerat the Priest's or Priests' La: Ppescot(t ; and”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Prescott
- Edward C. Prescott (1940–2022)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.