Steen Family History

North German, Norwegian, and Danish; Swedish (also Steén and Stéen); Dutch and Flemish (also Van der Steen): from Middle Low German stēn, Old Norse steinn (Danish and Swedish sten) ‘stone’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived on stony ground or a metonymic occupational name for someone who worked with stone (quarryman, stonecutter, or stonemason).

As a Swedish name, it is mainly habitational, derived from a placename such as Stenby, containing the word sten ‘stone’; it can also be from the personal name Sten, with the same meaning. Compare Sten.

English: from the Middle English personal name Steyne (Old Norse Steinn, Sten, meaning ‘stone’). English: habitational name from any of various minor places in northern England and Scotland named with Old English stān ‘stone, rock’ (northern Middle English stayn) or in the rest of England with Old English stǣne ‘stony place’ (Middle English stane, stayne, stene), including Steane (Northamptonshire), Stein Farm in East Dean (Sussex), Stains in Funtington (Sussex), what is now Old Steine in Brighton (Sussex), and Steyne in Chale (Isle of Wight). Compare Staines.

Scottish: from a shortened form of Stephen. Irish and Scottish: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Stiamhna ‘son of Stephen’, often Anglicized as McStephen or McStein.