Thorpe
A habitational surname for someone who lived in or came from a farmstead, hamlet, or small village.
The #1,651 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 14,154 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Thorpe comes from Old English and Old Norse words for a small settlement, farmstead, hamlet, or outlying village. The core sense is simply “a minor rural place,” so the surname usually began as a locational name for someone identified by such a place-name. Many English place-names ending in -thorpe preserve this same element.
History
The surname is common in England and also appears in Scottish and Scandinavian-related contexts because the place-word itself was used widely in northern England. Historical surname forms and spellings often shorten or alter the ending, and dictionaries note variants such as Thorp, Throp, Thrupp, Trap, and Trop. Because it is also a frequent element in place-names, many bearers took the name from specific villages or hamlets called Thorpe or something similar.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
English place-names in -thorpe are especially common in areas with strong Scandinavian settlement influence, especially the old Danelaw region.
From the historical record
“THORP 1 (Eng. and Scand.) Bel. to Thorp, THORPE J Thorpe = the Farmstead, Ham- let, Village [O.E. and O.N. ^orp] yfa.nB.dsThorpe.—Hund. Rolls. The cok, that orloge [clock] is oithorpes lyte [little].— Chaucer, Parlement of Foules, 350. THORRINGTON (Eng.) Bel. to Thorrington (Essex), 13th cent. Thorington, A.-Sax.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Thorpe
- Jim Thorpe
- Ian Thorpe (b. 1982)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.