Vines
A surname that can mean either “vine-grower” or a family name built from Vine, with some cases also tied to French place-names.
The #3,547 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 30,687 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Vines is usually treated as the plural or genitive form of Vine. In that sense it may have begun as a family name connected with someone known for vines or a vineyard, from Latin root words for a vineyard or vine. Some 19th-century sources also connect it with Old French place-names such as Vigny or Vignay, so in some families it may be locational rather than occupational.
History
The name is recorded in older English surname references as a variant of Vine, and it appears in English records in several related spellings. Because surname forms often shifted between singular, plural, and possessive shapes, Vines can represent more than one line of origin. It is established in modern English-speaking countries, including the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 1912 surname dictionary explicitly glosses VINES as the plural/genitive of Vine and also links it to vineyard-related origins.
From the historical record
“Vignier. VINES, pi., and genit., of Vine, q.v. VINEY (A.-Fr.-Lat.) Bel. to Vigny, Vignay (France) ; or Dweller at the Vineyard [Lat. vinet-um (in Late Lat. the form viniacumoilen occurs — i-dc-um replacing the 'plantation' suff. -et-um), vineyard]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)