MOUNTAIN

Mountain is a surname of English provenance, deriving from the Old English words munt or muntan, which denote a mountain or hill. As a topographic name it was originally applied to individuals who resided upon or adjacent to such elevated ground, thereby marking their place of dwelling in a distinctive manner. The name is therefore a habitational surname that conveys a direct geographical association.

Following the Norman Conquest of 1066, a form of the surname entered the British Isles as the modern spelling of the Norman de la Montagne. The name is thought to have been borne by followers of William the Conqueror, and later by Huguenot refugees in the 17th century after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. In the late 12th century, the name travelled to Ireland with the forces of Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, during the campaign to secure a united Ireland. Those settlers were granted lands in County Waterford, where the surname remains comparatively common to this day. In medieval England, many bearers altered the spelling to forms such as Munton, Menton, Manton or Mountain, as evidenced in the 1273 Hundred Rolls of Oxford and other contemporary sources.

Recorded instances of the surname appear in the 1273 Hundred Rolls of Salop (Shropshire), where the name is first seen as Hugh de Muntein. Later documents include names such as William de Muntain and Matilda Montem in the same rolls, as well as Margarete Mountayn of St Giles Cripplegate, London in 1568, and Richard Mountain, St Nicholas, Liverpool in 1788. These entries demonstrate a consistent presence of the name throughout the medieval period.

The trans-Atlantic migration of bearers of the Mountain name began early, with a notable appearance in 1635 when Joseph Mountain, aged twenty, sailed from Gravesend, Kent on the ship Paul of London. Subsequent immigration to the American colonies expanded the surname’s reach, especially in the Appalachian region, where it became highly prevalent. In the United Kingdom contemporary statistics still record a notable number of individuals with the surname, many of whom trace their lineage back to Norman or earlier English origins.

In modern times the surname is most common in the United States, particularly within West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina where the term Mountaineer is a familiar descriptor of the local populace. According to the 2000 United States Census, there were 10 469 bearers of the surname. The name is considerably less frequent in Europe outside England and in Australia, where only a few hundred individuals carry it. Variants in spelling include Montain, Montayn, Monteney, and Monty, among others, reflecting regional orthographical preferences and linguistic influences. These orthographic differences are often the result of transliteration from languages such as French, Dutch, and German, but in the United Kingdom the most frequent variant remains Mountney, with Mountain also in common use.

Typical given names associated with the Mountain surname

Male

• Andrew
• Christopher
• Daniel
• David
• Ian
• James
• John
• Paul
• Peter
• Richard
• Robert

Female

• Angela
• Elizabeth
• Emma
• Helen
• Jane
• Julie
• Karen
• Margaret
• Nicola
• Patricia
• Sally
• Sarah
• Susan

Similar and related surnames

Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.

How to communicate the surname Mountain in...

Braille

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Morse

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Semaphore

Did you know?

According to a survey carried out by Democracy Club, politicians and candidates with the surname Mountain are most likely to say that their favourite biscuit is a Hobnob.

Surname type: Location or geographical feature

Origin: English

Region of origin: British Isles

Country of origin: England

Religion of origin: Christian

Language of origin: English

Famous people named Mountain

• Sir Edward Mountain, 4th Baronet - Scottish politician
• Pat Mountain - Welsh football player
• Albert Mountain - Recipient of the Victoria Cross (1895 to 1967)
• George Mountain - Anglican bishop (1789 to 1863)
• Edgar Mountain - Athletics competitor and Professor of Geology at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa (1901 to 1985)
• Bob Mountain - Football player
• Jacob Mountain - Bishop of Québec; Canadian politician and British Anglican colonial bishop (1749 to 1825)

Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.

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