Estep surname origin?

Question

Does anyone happen to know if the Estep surname is really Spanish coming from Estepa, Spain? I have heard this. Thanks for any replies!

Answer 1

In 1870 a Christene Estep lived in Media Co., OH.  She was from Wurt, which I assume means Wurtenburg, Germany.  There were many of them on census records, but she was the only one I could find who was born outside the US.

Answer 2

Estep  

Last name origins & meanings:

Variant of English Eastop (see Eastep). This name is common in OH, WV, and VA.

Thomas Estep, son of Richard Eastop, came to MD in 1647. His son Shadrach established a family in Kanawha Co., WV.

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Eastep    

Last name origin & meaning:

Altered spelling of English Eastop, a habitational name from a place in Shropshire called Easthope, named with Old English ēst ‘east’, ‘eastern’ + hop ‘enclosed valley’.

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Surname: Eastop

This is an Olde English pre 7th century locational name which may in some instances derive from the Shropshire village of Easthope but is more likely to mean "one resident on a field of land enclosed by marsh" or "a small enclosed valley", (Est-hope). However, there is no absolute definition, the precise meaning varying in different localities. The place name is an early recording appearing in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles of 901 A.D. for Shropshire. The name development includes William Estoppe in the Sussex Pipe Rolls of 1327. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de Esthop which was dated 1275 in the "Hundred Rolls of Shropshire". during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots" 1272 - 1307.

I don't know of an Estepa in Spain,only Estepona in Andalucia, or the various world grasslands known in Spanish as Estepas.