English and Danish: topographic name for someone who lived by a
thorn bush or hedge (Old English, Old Norse þorn). The name
is also found in Sweden.English: habitational name from a
place named with Old English, Old Norse þorn ‘thorn bush’
(see 1), for example Thorne in Kent, Somerset, and South Yorkshire.North German and Danish: topographic name for someone who
lived near a tower, from Middle Low German torn
‘tower’.German: habitational name from the city of Thorn
(Torun in Poland), which was named with Middle High German
torn ‘tower’.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
512,140
Historical Documents & Family Trees with Thorn
Click on a place to view Thorn immigration records
The information for this chart came from the U.S. Immigration Collection at Ancestry.co.uk.
You can find out where the majority of the Thorn families were living before
they immigrated to the U.S and learn where to focus your search for foreign records.
Immigration records can tell you an ancestor's name, ship name, port of departure,
port of arrival, and destination.
Click on a circle in the chart to view Thorn emigration records
You can find out when most of the Thorn families immigrated
to the United States.
You can focus your search to emigration records dating from that era.
Emigration records can tell you an ancestor's name, ship name, port of departure,
port of arrival and destination.
Did the Thorns fight in a war? Military records can tell you a lot
about your ancestors including birthplace, occupation and even physical descriptions.