Blackburn surname meaning

Blackburn is an English habitational surname from places named Blackburn, above all the Lancashire town, formed from Old English blæc, “dark,” and burna, “stream.” Someone who came from the dark stream settlement could take the place-name as a hereditary surname. The name is historically strongest in northern England. Blackbourne and Blackburne are older or variant spellings of the same place-derived surname. Place is high confidence: dictionary sources agree on the habitational reading and the transparent Old English elements, with no serious competing occupational or nickname etymology for the standard English name.