English surname meaning

English is an ethnonymic surname meaning, in plain terms, “the Englishman.” It comes from Middle English English, Inglish, or Inglis (Old English Englisc), sometimes alternating with Anglo-Norman forms such as Engleis. Near the Scottish and Welsh borders it could mark an English neighbor among Scots or Welsh speakers, and among the post-Conquest gentry it could distinguish English ancestry from Norman. In Ireland it sometimes translates or replaces other Gaelic names with a similar sense. Inglis and Inglish are close cousins. The catalog uses nickname—the type used for ethnonymic bynames—with high confidence.