Frequency: (117)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. Patronymic from the personal name Humbert.
2. In some cases it may be a metathesized variant of English Humberston, a habitational name from a place in Lincolnshire named Humberston, from the ancient pre-English river name Humber + Old English stān ‘stone’. The surname occurs mainly in TX, PA, and OH.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
