Beck, Jessop (and it’s many variations), Langley (Langlee, Langleigh, Langeleye, …), Bowyer and York all existed in the Medieval period so can be added to the list. Creates a real challenge when doing genealogy. A new village priest arrives and writes new parish entries of a family of Jessop as, say, Gesop, Jesset or Jesuppe, or vice versa – and it sticks (or changes yet again when the next priest arrives). How badly can one mangle that? Yet it’s had over 40 variations over the last 8 centuries, some so extreme one could be forgiven thinking they were completely different names. Moreover many English place-name derived surnames also existed – in period – with a “de/des” in front of it, meaning, of course, “of”, so “de Langeleye” existed, and just as “de Montford” existed, so did “Montford”.Īlso, we mustn’t forget those variations in spelling. The professional crimi nal was more likely to be a member of the landed gen try than a champion of the downtrodden peasants and often acted in concert with. On the other hand, Langley originally meant “long field” or “long glade” (paradoxically, also “wood” which is rather the opposite), so could be applied to a person living in or near the field/glade, since Bob Langley would be distinguished from the Bob Beck, whose house is beside the “stream”. (Or having the famous title “York”, applying to the county, not the city, but many of the earliest known examples of the surname York occur at the other end of the country in Wiltshire, Somerset, Cambridgeshire, etc) Much more likely it would have been applied to a family or person -from- the very-distant city of York. Alaric is the most royal of medieval boy names as the name of many Gothic kings. It’s made up of ala, meaning all’ and rik, meaning rule. After all, William’s many neighbours named William all live in York. Alaric comes from the Old German Alaricus. However, the name “York” would not have been applied to a person living in York. Location based names require a bit of care. And if you liked the list, you might also like my book Master Lists for Writers, a go-to reference.īe sure to sign up for the blog, if you haven’t already, so you don’t miss any future lists for writers-you can do that below. I want to make it into a fantastic medieval last name generator. Beatrice: derived from the Latin name Beatrix, meaning. Anne: derived from the Hebrew name Hannah, meaning gracious or full of grace. If you think of any medieval last names to add to this list, please let me know. Popular Medieval Names (Female) And below are some popular medieval female names from the Middle Ages: Alice: derived from the Old French name Aalis, meaning of noble birth. Tyler (an occupation name for someone who does tilework) Kirk (this is a medieval surname used to indicate someone lives near a church) Griffen (this medieval last name, and variations of it, was also a first name in the Middle Ages) Get extra writing inspiration, news, and giveaways.and never miss a new post!Ĭhallenge (I have to admit this one sounds fake, but I can attest that it’s an authentic medieval English surname)ĭarcy (of course, we associate this medieval last name with the Regency era)ĭurandal (I think this would be a great knight name)
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