Sharpless Last Name: Meaning and Heraldic Roots

Sharpless is best understood alongside Sharples: both are English spellings of one family name.

What does the surname Sharpless mean?

Name scholars give the meaning as “Someone who came from Sharples (steep place), in Lancashire”. 1,626 Americans were listed as Sharpless in the 2010 census.

Is Sharpless the same name as Sharples?

Sharpless adds a patronymic ending to Sharples, marking ‘son of’ or ‘of the family of’. Census takers and immigration officers often wrote what they heard.

Does every Sharpless family have a crest?

Heraldry is personal: arms associated with the Sharples surname were borne by specific families, and sharing the name does not mean sharing the blazon.

Want more than a summary? See the Sharpless family name pack.