Surname origins - is yours "English"?

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Fascinating article from Ancestry.com on surname origins..

 

"Many of us have surnames passed down to us from ancestors in England. Last names weren’t widely used until after the Norman conquest in 1066, but as the country’s population grew, people found it necessary to be more specific when they were talking about somebody else. Thus arose descriptions like Thomas the Baker, Norman son of Richard, Henry the Whitehead, Elizabeth of the Field, and Joan of York that, ultimately, led to many of our current surnames.

 

"There are perhaps 45,000 different English surnames, but most had their origins as one of these seven types.

 

"Occupational

"Occupational names identified people based on their job or position in society. Calling a man “Thomas Carpenter” indicated that he worked with wood for a living, while someone named Knight bore a sword. Other occupational names include Archer, Baker, Brewer, Butcher, Carter, Clark, Cooper, Cook, Dyer, Farmer, Faulkner, Fisher, Fuller, Gardener, Glover, Head, Hunt or Hunter, Judge, Mason, Page, Parker, Potter, Sawyer, Slater, Smith, Taylor, Thatcher, Turner, Weaver, Woodman, and Wright (or variations such as Cartwright and Wainwright) — and there are many more.

This kind of name also gave a clue about whom a servant worked for. Someone named Vickers might have been a servant to Mr. Vicker, and someone named Williams might either have served a William or been adopted by him.

 

"From the obscure fact department: In medieval England, before the time of professional theater, craft guilds put on “mystery plays” (“mystery” meaning “miracle”), which told Bible stories and had a call-and-response style of singing. A participant’s surname — such as King, Lord, Virgin, or Death — may have reflected his or her role, which some people played for life and passed down to their eldest son.

 

"Describing a personal characteristic

"Some names, often adjectives, were based on nicknames that described a person. They may have described a person’s size (Short, Long, Little), coloring (Black, White, Green, or Red, which could have evolved into “Reed”), or another character trait (Stern, Strong, Swift). Someone named Peacock might have been considered vain.

 

"From an English place name

"A last name may have pointed to where a person was born, lived, worked, or owned land. It might be from the name of a house, farm, hamlet, town, or county. Some examples: Bedford, Burton, Hamilton, Hampshire, Sutton. Writer Jack London’s stepfather may have hailed from London.

 

"From the name of an estate

"Those descended from landowners may have taken as their surname the name of their holdings, castle, manor, or estate, such as Ernle or Staunton. Windsor is a famous example — it was the surname George V adopted for the British royal family.

 

"From a geographical feature of the landscape

"Some examples are Bridge, Brooks, Bush, Camp, Fields, Forest, Greenwood, Grove, Hill, Knolles, Lake, Moore, Perry, Stone, Wold, Wood, and Woodruff. Author Margaret Atwood is probably descended from someone who lived “at the wood.”

 

"Patronymic, matronymic, or ancestral

"Patronymic surnames (those that come from a male given name) include Benson (“the son of Ben”), Davis, Dawson, Evans, Harris, Harrison, Jackson, Jones (Welsh for John), Nicholson, Richardson, Robinson, Rogers, Simpson, Stephenson, Thompson, Watson, and Wilson.

Matronymic ones, surnames derived from a female given name, include Molson (from Moll, for Mary), Madison (from Maud), Emmott (from Emma), and Marriott (from Mary).

 

"Scottish clan names make up one set of ancestral surnames. These include Armstrong, Cameron, Campbell, Crawford, Douglas, Forbes, Grant, Henderson, Hunter, MacDonald, and Stewart.

 

"Signifying patronage

"Some surnames honored a patron. Hickman was Hick’s man (Hick being a nickname for Richard). Kilpatrick was a follower of Patrick.

 

"Wondering whether your family name is English? Try plugging your surname into the Ancestry.com Last Names Meanings and Origins widget" at  http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts

[Gail]

Hemphill... Have fun with that!

On our English side Grandma was a Cotton.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Hemphill is interesting!  

 

Hemphill Name Meaning Northern Irish, originally Scottish: habitational name from a place near Galston in Ayrshire, apparently so named from Old English henep ‘hemp’ + hyll ‘hill’.   

 

I wonder if it was smoked waaaay back there?

[Gail]

And that is the information that my Mormon aunt has, too. There are still many Hemphills in N. Ireland. We were told that we were either a Scottish clan or Irish marauders... I think that the earliest document we could find of a Hemphill was in a debtor's record.

 

But you can still see the red hair through my dad's line, although we all have differing shades of red: Grandpa had auburn, my cousin Wayne had flaming carrot-top, and my uncle, dad, me and my cousin (girl) had the caramel-coloured strawberry blonde.

 

The other Celtic traits that run through the family are: artistic (my aunt and her daughter were painters and my other aunt writes well, having made the family homestead history book); fun-loving, happy and sexual.

[Gail]

Hemphill is interesting!  

 

Hemphill Name Meaning Northern Irish, originally Scottish: habitational name from a place near Galston in Ayrshire, apparently so named from Old English henep ‘hemp’ + hyll ‘hill’.   

 

I wonder if it was smoked waaaay back there?

 

Ropemakers. That is what I tell people. 

[Kevin H]

I enjoyed that article. Scandinavian names seem to have come from similar sources but mostly two: The son of someone and the farm they either owned or grew up on.

 

We only started using last names routinely in the late 1700s and in the 1800s. Before that you were so and so's son or daughter. The first born son was usually given the first name of the paternal grandfather and the second born son usually given the first name of the maternal grandfather, then more freedom for the other names. Then the last name was the father's first name with son or daughter.

 

When they started using family last names many kept the one they had. Others, such as my Great Grandpa (my grandma's dad) and my Great Great Grandpa (my grandpa's grandfather) both took names from the farms they grew up on.

[hfsturges]

The name "Sturges" is of obscure origin. Some people like to associate this with the "sturgeon" fish. Source of Caviar.

 

My Father's family came from southern England. However, there was a Norwegian ship captain "Turgeous" who commanded 20 Viking ships and ruled northern Ireland for a period of time, about 800 AD. The name means "hostage of Thor" in Norse. It might be compared with "Gabriel" in English (man of God).

 

Then there are some who  relate the name to "Stygers" from northern England.

 

"Sturges" is the spelling of the name in England. "Sturgis" which may be more common suggests an origin in Lithuania, where many names end in  "-is".

 

The latinized name is "esturhes," better known as "Esterhazy," a well known politician in medieval Austrian-Hungarian empire.

 

Well, that is more than I know. I won't talk about my first and middle names, unless some really, really wants to know!

Hubert F. Sturges

[Gail]

 

Well, that is more than I know. I won't talk about my first and middle names, unless some really, really wants to know!

 

You've got ME curious! That's a yes vote!! 

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

(I know Hubert's middle name )

[joeb]

Is my real surname English?  Absolutely not, but I'm not going to post it here because of the things I've had to say about my family.  The reason is that I have no wish to embarrass them or create more alienation than already exists between us.  

[pindoc]

I'm a "more" orginally a "moor" - very german, though it's well known that the irish ancestors emigrated to germany before crossing the pond to america. rumor had it that some of our ancestors were hessian mercenaries during the american civil war. very cool, though though the genealogists haven't proven it.  

 

there's "chilton" on the other side of the family. that's as english as the queen herself.

[Tom Wetmore]

My surname is from the English Whitmore and was a place name. It was. The village of Whitmore, I believe somewhere in the southeast of England. The first known person to start using it was I believe the son of man who settled there from Normandy, a Sir John from _____ (the village in Normandy) . I believe that was in the 11th Century, consistent with what the article said.

The spelling changed in the first generation of settlers to the New World. The first to have started using the spelling "Wetmore" was the Thomas Wetmore that came here in 1635 as a young man of 20 along with his father John Whitmore and several siblings. They were among the early settlers in Connecticut. Thomas had 13 children with three wives. most of the children are with his first wife.

My ancestors on my mother's side were already in the New World having come over 10 years earlier on a little boat called the Mayflower. I have 3 grandfathers that were on that boat, Myles Standish, John Alden, and William Brewster.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Tom, then you're related to a virtual host of historical and prominent figures - US presidents, military, explorers!  One that I know of right off the bat would be Winston Churchill.  

[Tom Wetmore]

The ones I know of and their relationship to me ...

 

Myles Standish  -- 10th Great Grandfather 

John Alden  -- 10th Great Grandfather

William Brewster  --  11th Great Grandfather

John Adams  -- 3rd Cousin, 8th Removed

Henry Wadsworth LongFellow  --  4th Cousin, 5th Removed

John Quincy Adams  -- 4th Cousin, 7th Removed

William Cullen Bryant  -- 5th Cousin, 6th Removed

Ulysses S. Grant  --  6th Cousin, 6th Removed

Franklin Delano Roosevelt  --  7th Cousin, 5th Removed

[Gail]

Almost royalty!

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

 a veritable "Who's Who" of American History!

[Tom Wetmore]

I am such a blue blood!!  

 

Probably closer to the reality of this old country boy, farm boy and true child of Appalachia is the answer my paternal grandfather use to say if asked about out ancestry - "We came from chicken thieves from Jersey."  

[hfsturges]

Someone asked, so I will reply.

My first name "Hubert" is not common. I have been called "Herbert" all my life  (from Herbert Hoover). When Hubert Humphrey ran for president, my first name was pronounced correctly  for three years. Now to the uninitiated, I am "Herbert" again.

"Hubert" is more common in northern France and Belgium. I was born in the Belgian Congo, Africa. My mother said I could declare myself a Belgian when I was 21. I was in medical school at the time, and forgot about it. Maybe I should have done it - I hear that Belgium is a wealthy country!

 

My mother's family name was "Floding," a Swedish name, and both her parents were born in Sweden. There is a moderate size town called Floda, about 50 miles west of Gothenburg, where Floding, or Flood may have originated. Mother has a profile picture that looks Jewish. I asked her, but she denied that there was any Jewish blood in the family.

 

However, Sweden at the time, carfefully controlled who and how many Jews were allowed to emigrate to Sweden. Those who came, were limited to just a few cities. One of those cities was Gothenburg. Did one of those Jews set up business in Floda? Who knows? (I can't speak Yiddish, or read Hebrew!)

 

You asked for it, and here it is.

Hubb

[hfsturges]

Tom Wetmore,

You claim to live in Appalachia, in Maryland.

I lived in Kentucky for a year, and in Dayton, Ohio for a year.

I found in Kentucky, people "lived."

In Ohio, people "worked."

 

Kentucky is historically an Anglo-Saxon state.

Ohio by comparison, is a German state!

Hubb

[Gail]

I have never had trouble with the name Hubert ever since Mr. Bean, when the New Year's party next door emitted, "Three cheers for Hubert and Rupert!!"

 

[LynnDel]

Hurrah for Mr. Bean! 

[Tom Wetmore]

Tom Wetmore,

You claim to live in Appalachia, in Maryland.

I lived in Kentucky for a year, and in Dayton, Ohio for a year.

I found in Kentucky, people "lived."

In Ohio, people "worked."

 

Kentucky is historically an Anglo-Saxon state.

Ohio by comparison, is a German state!

Hubb

Hubb,

Currently living in urban Maryland, actually all my adult life. But my reference was to the fact I was born and grew up in the Appalachian hills of Pennsylvania. We see stereotypical pictures of the the Appalachian rural poor. I wouldn't have thought of myself as fitting that image until I look at pictures from my childhood and see it was so.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

interesting, Tom !!   I never associated Appalachia with Pennsylvania at all..

[Tom Wetmore]

Nor did I until not so many years ago when I realized I had grown up living at two different PA locations that were both very close to the Appalachian trail and then noted on a map of the Appalachian Mountain range that it extends all the way from Georgia and Alabama to Canada. See - http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachia . Here is a map of what is considered to be the Appalachian cultural region:

[Tom Wetmore]

In keeping with the topic, my Wetmore ancestors moved to where I grew up in far north central PA (almost to the NY line) at least 4 or 5 generations before me. They were woodsman and farmers. The little 200 acre farm I grew up on was mostly wooded and surrounded by miles of forest land. I spent my childhood wandering those woods.