West
A surname for someone who lived to the west or came from the western side of a place.
The #125 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 1,577 Americans shares it.
Etymology
West comes from Old English west, meaning “west” or “the western direction.” As a surname, it was often used for someone who lived on the western side of a settlement, or who had come from the west. In some cases it could also mean a person from the western part of a county or region, especially in medieval English records.
History
The name is well attested in medieval England, including forms like Robertus del West in Yorkshire records from 1379. It remained common in England and later spread widely to other English-speaking countries through migration. Because it is a very basic directional surname, it arose independently in multiple places.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Directional surnames like West, East, North, and South often developed without any link to a single family line, so unrelated families could end up sharing the same surname.
From the historical record
“WESSON, an assim. form of Weston, q.v. WEST (Eng.) One from the West ; a West- couNTRYMAN [M.E. west(e, O.E. west] Robertus del West. — Yorks Poll-Tax, A.D. 1379. A shipman was ther, wonynge [dwelling] fer by weste; For aught I woot [know] he was of”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named West
- Kim Kardashian (b. 1980)
- Mae West (1893–1980)
- Kanye West (b. 1977)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.