Towns
A surname meaning “of the town,” often originally a shortened form of Townsend or a local name for someone who lived in a settlement.
The #4,569 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 39,787 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Towns is best understood as a shortened or altered form of Townsend, a name built from Old English tūn, meaning “enclosure,” “farm,” or later “village/town,” plus ende, “end.” In that older sense, it referred to someone living at the edge of a settlement. In some cases, it may also have been used more loosely as a local surname for a person identified with a town or village.
History
19th-century surname writers usually treated Towns as a reduced form of Townsend or as a related local name. Because it is brief and overlaps with the common noun town, it could also arise independently in different places from local usage or from the possessive form "Town's." It is most familiar in England and the English-speaking world, especially where Townsend and its shortenings were common.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Old English word tūn lies behind many English place-names ending in -ton, as well as this surname.
From the historical record
“[O.E. tAn -\- raw] TOWNS, Town's (Son) : v. Town. TOWNSEND 1 (Eng.) Dweller at the End OF TOWNSHEND J A Town (Village) [O.E. tiin, genit. tunes + ende"] Townsley”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)