Ashland

Family name origins & meanings

• English and Scottish : topographic or habitational name for residence on or near land covered with ash trees. There are minor places called Ashland(s) in Hampshire and Leicestershire, Staffordshire, and Galloway. Asland, a river name in Lancashire, refers to the lower reaches of what is more generally known as the Douglas river. It is named from Old Norse askr ‘ash’ + Old English lanu ‘lane’.
• Americanized form of Norwegian Ask(e)land (see Askeland).
• Probably an Americanized form of the common French Canadian name Asselin. Compare Ashline.
• In the U.S., Ashland is the name of two counties and at least thirteen cities, towns, and villages. Most, perhaps all, were named after Ashland in Lexington, KY, home of Henry Clay (1777–1852), who is said to have named his estate from a characteristic feature of the site, not from anyone’s surname.