Down Surname Meaning & Coat of Arms

Looking for a Down coat of arms? Arms were granted to families, not to surnames, and our research shows which heraldic tradition fits yours.

The meaning behind Down

Genealogists group Down with Downs. Read literally, Down points to “Dweller on, or near, the hill or hill pasture”.

Down drops the “s” of Downs, a simplification that clerks often made. The same family of names includes Downes. The 2010 US Census counted 1,112 people named Down, ranking it number 22,989 among American surnames. It sits among the 25,000 most common last names in the country. Similar-sounding surnames on Herald Lab: Downey and Downie.

Get the complete Down report, with a museum-style coat of arms.