Van Zant
A Dutch-style surname meaning “from Zand/Sant,” likely pointing to someone who came from a sandy place or a place named Zand.
The #9,698 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 92,301 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Van Zant is a Dutch toponymic surname built from van, meaning “from” or “of,” and Zant, a variant spelling related to Dutch zand, “sand.” In form and meaning, it suggests origin from a sandy tract of land or from a place called Zand/Zandt. The spelling with a space or hyphen is also common in related Dutch and Dutch-American family names.
History
Names of this type became hereditary surnames in the Low Countries and were later carried to North America by Dutch settlers and their descendants. In the United States, Van Zant is especially familiar as a family name in the South and in music, though the surname itself is older and geographically rooted in Dutch naming patterns. English-language records often simplified or varied the spacing and capitalization.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Van Zandt is a very close spelling variant, and several American family lines have shifted between the two forms in records over time.