Family name origins & meanings
- Americanized form of the Scandinavian and North German surname Arne or of some other name with arn ‘eagle’ as a first element.
- Perhaps an altered form of Norwegian Arnøy, a habitational name from any of a number of farmsteads named for the islands on which they stand; the original derivation of such names being either from the Old Norse personal name Arni, or from {o,}rn ‘eagle’ + øy ‘island’.