York

Racial Origin – English
Source – A locality

The origin of York as a family name is not hard to guess. It comes from the city in England of that name.

The city of York is almost as important historically as London, and it is as old, antedating the Roman invasion and having been founded by the Celtic Britons long before the first Anglo-Saxon settlers made their appearance.

Linking the name of York and London brings up an interesting question.  Why is the name of London virtually never met with as a family name , and that of York rather seldom, while family names derived from smaller cities, and even towns and villages are quite common?

At the period when men’s neighbours began to link their given names with the names of the places from which they had come, to distinguish different individuals of the same given name, it would have constituted little differentiation to use such a name as London.  London was such an important place, the seat of the government and so many men came from London.  There might be several Johns from London in a very small community, with York it was much the same, though not to the same degree. York was still a big and important place, but it wasn’t the seat of the Government. Hence we find a number of Yorks in the list of English family names, but not as many as Lincolns.