THURMAN
Thurman is a surname of English origin that incorporates elements derived from the Old Norse personal name Thorormr or Thormund. These originals combine the divine name Thorr, the North‑Germanic deity associated with thunder, with the element mund, meaning ‘protection’ or ‘guardian’. Consequently, the surname may be interpreted as “Thor’s protection” or “guardian of Thor”. The formation of the name as a patronymic indicates that it originally identified the descendants of a person named Thorormr or Thormund.
Historical records attest that the name entered England during the Viking incursions that characterised the early medieval period. The earliest spelled instance is that of Adam Thuremund, dated 1248 in the Assize Rolls of Hampshire, which coincided with the reign of King Henry I. Subsequent attestations appear in Suffolk in 1221 as Thurmod, and in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire in 1279 under the spelling Walter Thurmond. Earliest London christenings of the surname include Katherin Thurman (1594, St. Andrews‑by‑the‑Wardrobe), Elizabeth Thurman (1609, St. Margaret’s, Westminster) and Edward Thurman (1621, St. Martin‑in‑the‑Fields, Westminster). These documents demonstrate the surname’s early establishment throughout the British Isles.
In England, the surname has been consistently documented across the three principal kingdoms, appearing in households throughout England, Wales and Scotland. According to records of 1881, the name was found in 32,994 households, and it remains the 339th most common surname in the United Kingdom today. In the United States, the surname is most frequently encountered in the Southern states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Arkansas, where early bearers such as David “Dave” Thurman of Dinwiddie County, Virginia (1730s) settled and from which subsequent generations disseminated into other states. By the year 2000, Thurman ranked as the 1,460th most common surname in the United States.
The surname has developed several orthographic variants that preserve the same etymological origin. These include Thurmond, Thurmanne, Thorman, Thormann, Therman and Thurmann. In addition, the British Anglicised form Thorpe derives from the Old Norse Þórð. Abroad, related forms such as the German Thürmann, the Dutch Torm and the Italian Turman reflect adaptation to local languages and writing systems. Russian variants such as Terryman and Tormann appear to result from transliteration into Cyrillic.
The persistence of the name in contemporary times owes to the continued celebration of Old Norse heritage. The nineteenth‑century revival of interest in Viking culture led to a temporary surge in the surname’s popularity. Despite the evolution of linguistic spelling over centuries, the core meaning of the name – a protective dedication to the Norse deity Thor – remains embedded in the surname Thurman.
Typical given names associated with the Thurman surname
Male
- Andrew
- Brian
- David
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Richard
- Simon
Female
- Jane
- Janice
- Joanne
- Julie
- Kathleen
- Linda
- Lisa
- Louise
- Margaret
- Rebecca
- 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 Thurman in...
Braille
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Morse
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Semaphore
There are approximately 1,130 people named Thurman in the UK. That makes it roughly the 6,716th most common surname in Britain. Around 17 in a million people in Britain are named Thurman.
Surname type: Occupational name
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Thurman
- Uma Thurman - American actress and model
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.