Sweet
A nickname surname from Old English for a pleasant, pleasing, or agreeable person.
The #1,169 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 10,274 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Sweet comes from Old English swete and Middle English swet(e)/suete, meaning pleasant, pleasing, or mild. As a surname, it was most likely first used as a nickname for someone of a kindly or agreeable disposition, though in some cases it may have been given to someone associated with the word in another way. The name is a straightforward survival of the everyday adjective, not a place-name or occupational term.
History
Early English surname writers treated Sweet as a character-name surname, alongside forms like Sweeting and Sweetlove. It remained established in England and later spread through English-speaking countries, where it is now fairly uncommon but well recognized. Some older sources also mention occasional confusion with similar-looking surnames such as Suett.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Old surname dictionaries grouped Sweet with other “virtue” or “quality” surnames such as Gentle, Merry, and Gay.
From the historical record
“township. SWEET (Eng.) [M.E. swet(e, suete, O.E. sai/te, sweet] SWEETAPPLE (Eng.) Dweller by theSwEET- Apple (Tree) [O.E. swdte -i- mppel] SWEETCOCK (Eng.) = Sweet (q.v.) -t- the E. pet suff. -cock. Adam Swetcoc. — Hu«d. Rolls.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Sweet
- Dita Von Teese (b. 1972)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.