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Surname Etymology and Meaning of TENNANT

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Name meanings and etymologies are often disputed. The information here is compiled from freely available sources, and no claims whatsoever are made for accuracy, either historical or etymological.

Tenant, a person holding lands under another, from Teneo, Latin, to hold. Local, Tyn, Welsh, a stretch, and nant, a ravine.

Source: An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names With an Essay on their Derivation and Import (1857).

Scottish and English: status name for a farmer who held his land from an overlord by obligations of rent or service, from Old French, Middle English tenant (present participle of Old French tenir ‘to hold’, Latin tenere). This was the normal situation for landholders in the Middle Ages, since in the feudal system all land belonged ultimately to the king and use of it was granted in return for financial or military support.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names (2003)