Tryon
A surname probably from a Norman/French place-name or nickname form, with some evidence of a French dialect word behind it.
The #7,201 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 66,569 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Tryon is probably connected with a place-name or local French/Norman form rather than with an English occupational word. One historical note points to Norman French Tryon, and another suggests a Norman dialect word tryon as a variant of trayon, but the exact path into the surname is not fully secure. In older surname references it is treated as a locative or name-forming element, and the spelling has been stable in English records as Tryon.
History
The name is found in English and Anglo-American records, where it appears as a family surname and as the name of notable bearers such as Thomas Tryon. Some 19th-century writers also associated the family with Dutch or Huguenot origins, but that looks like family history rather than the core linguistic origin of the surname itself. In the United States, Tryon is best known today through place names and a small number of family lines rather than widespread use.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The name appears in older surname books with several competing explanations, which is a good reminder that 19th-century etymology often mixed language history with family tradition.
From the historical record
“TRYOISr. The founder of this family in England was Peter Tryon, who fled from the persecution of the Duke of Alva, temp. Queen Elizabeth. His family, who had long flourished in the Netherlands, were so rich, that the emigrant contrived to bring with him to England sixty thousand”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom