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Name Lineage

    The surname Amherst

    An English surname.

    Pronounced /ˈæm.ɝst/ 2 syllables Soundex A562

    Origin

    English origin

    From either Old English elm or Old Norse almr (“elm”) + Old English hyrst (“wood”). The town in Nova Scotia is named after Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst (1717–1797).

    One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    Famous Amhersts

    3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst
      British Army officer (1717–1797)
    • William Amherst, 1st Earl Amherst
      British diplomat (1773-1857)
    • William Amherst
      British Army general (1732-1781)

    Notable Amhersts come mostly from the Kingdom of Great Britain (2) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Amherst

    Amherst has the Soundex code A562, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code A562.

    Other English surnames

    All 1,446 English surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Amherst come from?
    From either Old English elm or Old Norse almr (“elm”) + Old English hyrst (“wood”). The town in Nova Scotia is named after Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst (1717–1797).
    Who is the most famous person named Amherst?
    Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, British Army officer (1717–1797), followed by William Amherst, 1st Earl Amherst.
    Where is the surname Amherst most common?
    Wikidata records people named Amherst in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
    How do you pronounce Amherst?
    Amherst is /ˈæm.ɝst/, 2 syllables.