Prince
A surname that usually began as a nickname or status-name meaning “prince,” and sometimes as a title-like byname for someone linked to a prince’s household or pageantry.
The #743 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 6,546 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The main element is the Old French prince, from Latin princeps, meaning “chief,” “leader,” or “first man.” In surname use, it could work as a nickname or as a status-like byname, including for someone who served a prince or appeared in a pageant role. Historical sources also treated it as a sobriquet, similar to surnames like Duke or Lord.
History
The name is well established in England and appears in medieval records in several forms. Some 19th-century writers also noted it as a Latinized surname form, Princeps. Because the word itself was prestigious, it could arise independently in more than one place as a nickname or occupationally flavoured byname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older surname books, Prince was often grouped with other “rank” surnames such as Duke and Lord, because it could be used as an honorific-style nickname rather than a literal title.
From the historical record
“name from an estate at Primrose, co. Fife. PRINCE (A.-Fi-.-Lat.) a nickname (applied e.g. to a prince's servant) and pageant-name [Fr. prince ; Lat. princeps, chief, leader] PRING (Eng.) a voiced form of Prink, q.v. (Fr.) = Ppin(n (q.v.) with added E. -^. PRINGLE, a Scottish surname, was supposed by MacBain to be a…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)