Stein
A surname meaning “stone” or “rock,” especially common in German and Jewish naming traditions.
The #796 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 7,116 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In German, Stein is the ordinary word for “stone” or “rock,” from Old High German stein/steiri. As a surname, it could name someone who lived by a rocky feature, came from a place called Stein, or was given as a nickname for firmness or strength. Related German surnames such as Steiner, Steinbach, and Steinberg expand that same “stone” element with meanings like “dweller by a rock,” “rocky brook,” and “rocky hill.”
History
The name appears widely in German-speaking areas and also became common among Jewish families in Germanic lands, where surnames were often taken from existing German words and place-names. English-language surname books from the 19th and early 20th centuries regularly treat Stein as a continental surname meaning “stone” or “rock.” In Scandinavian material, comparable forms appear in old nicknames and personal names built on Stein- as a “stone” element, though that is a related naming tradition rather than the main source of the modern surname in most families.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same root shows up in many German place-names, which is why surnames like Steinbach and Steinberg feel so transparent once you know the word Stein.
From the historical record
“bird + O.N. hall-r, a slope] STEIN-: V. the Appendix of Foreign Names for such Ger. names as Steinbach, 'Stony or Rocky Brook' ; Steinberg, 'Rocky Hill'. STEINFORTH, a var. of Stainfopth, q.v. [with the first element influenced by O.N. steinn, a stone, rock] Corresponding to the Ger. Steinfurt. STELFOX (Eng.) a…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)