Manning (a.k.a. Mannion, Manning) is a family name. Origin and meaning. Manning is from an old Norse word — manningi — meaning a brave or valiant man; and one of the first forms of the name was Mannin; another cartography was Mannygn. One historian gives a Saxon origin for the family, which he calls "ancient and noble". According to him, Manning was the name of a town in Saxony, and from it the surname sprang. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manning