Norman (name)

Surname

There are several different origins of the surname Norman.

1. As a surname of English, Irish (in Ulster), Scottish and Dutch origin the name was used to denote someone of Scandinavian ancestry or someone from Normandy (northern France). During the Dark Ages Scandinavian Vikings called themselves norðmenn ("men from the North"). By 1066 Scandinavian settlers in England had been absorbed and Northman and Norman were used as bynames and later as personal names by both English and English of Scandinavian descent. After the Norman Invasion of England in 1066, the name Norman took on a new meaning as England was invaded by Normans from Normandy (in northern France).
2. As a surname of French origin the name is a regional name denoting someone from Normandy.
3. As a surname of Dutch origin the surname is an ethnic name for someone of Norwegian descent.
4. As a surname of Jewish (Ashkenazic) origin the surname is a variant of Nordman.
5. As a surname of Jewish (American) origin the surname is an Americanization of a similar-sounding Ashkenazic name. In at least one case Norman is used as an Americanization of Novominsky, which is a name of a family originating in Uman, Ukraine. This family on coming to the United States of America changed their name to Norman, and relatives in Russia likewise changed their names from Novominsky to Norman.
6. As a surname of Swedish origin the name is derived the two elements: norr (north) + man ("man").

Given name

Norman as a given name is of mostly English origin. It is a Germanic name and is composed of the elements nord ("north") + man ("man"). The name can be found in England before the Norman Invasion of 1066, but gained popularity by its use by Norman settlers in England after the invasion. In Norway the demonym of its people in Norwegian are Nordmann (pronounce Normann), and has the exactly same meaning as the name origin of the Normans. In the Scottish Highlands, Norman is sometimes used as an Anglicised form of the Norwegian and Scottish Gaelic Tormod (derived from the Norse Þórmóðr). A pet form of the Scottish given name is Norrie. There are several Scottish feminine forms of the given name Norman. These include: Normanna, Normina, Norma, Nora, and Mona.

In England and Wales, the use of Norman as a given name is "dying out". For example, in 2005 only two newborn boys were so-named: one in Shropshire and another in Tyne and Wear.

England, Wales and the Isle of Man

Norman is ranked as the 273rd most common surname in the 1999–2001 National Health Service Central Register of England, Wales and the Isle of Man (the register utilises birth and death registers from 1999 to 2001).

Ireland

The surname Norman is of English origin, having arrived in Ulster in the 17th century during the plantation era (See Plantation of Ulster and Plantations of Ireland). The surname is most common in Dublin, Belfast and Cork. Below is a table of Norman households recorded in the Primary Valuation (Griffith's valuation) property survey of 1848–64.

United States of America

Surname

Given name

Fictional people with the name Norman