Trump is a surname of English and German origin:
The majority of people with the surname live in the United States (close to 5,000 individuals, approximately 900 of whom live in Pennsylvania); the surname does survive in both Germany and England, but is comparatively rare (fewer than 500 individuals in each country).
German name researcher (Lehrbeauftragter für Namenforschung) Hans Bahlow derived the German surname Trump from a Bavarian word for "drum" (Middle High German trumpe ). [4]
Trump as a contemporary German surname is comparatively rare, with 382 telephone book entries as of 2016 concentrated in the Cologne area, the Bad Dürkheim district, the Gifhorn district, and the Schwäbisch Hall/Ansbach region. [5]
The German surname was introduced to the British colonial Province of Pennsylvania in 1733. Philip Thomas Trump was recorded as part of a group of Germans from the Palatinate. [6] In the United States, there were close to 4,800 individuals with the surname on record as of 2016, Pennsylvania still accounting for close to one fifth of their number. [7]
The modern English surnames Trump, Tromp, and Trumper are derived from occupational names referring to "trumpet", either for trumpeters or trumpet-makers. Early attestations of the occupational name include references to one Patrick Trumpe in Cumbria (1275), to Adam Trumpur in Essex (also 1275), and to Nicholas Trump in Cambridgeshire (1279). One William Trompeur is recorded in London in 1320, and one John le Trumpour in Yorkshire in 1327. [3] One of the Monmouth rebels transported to the West Indies in 1685 was Humphrey Trump of Membury, Devon. In modern English surnames Trump is localized in Southwestern England, especially Devon and Somerset. [8] 429 individuals named Trump were reported for Great Britain as of 2016 (compared to 458 in 1881). [3]