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Our Surnames D
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DALE.
One who lives in the dale.
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DALRYMPLE. A name of Scottish origin, first recorded in South Ayrshire in the 14th
C. and the name of a present day Ayrshire village. (Grid Ref:NS360145). It is
believed to be derived from the Gaelic dail a chrum puill meaning “Flat
valley, winding river, field”, which I suppose could refer to many locations!
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DALTON.
Derived from the place-name. There are plenty to choose from! (ONS)
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DALY. Probably derived from a French place-name i.e. d’Ailly.
The name arises in several departments.
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DARGUE.
Possibly the same as DARG, which appears in Scotland back to the 15thC. While
Black suggests it to be an English name, Reaney offers no explanation. There is
a bastle-house, 2km S of Allendale Town, called Nine Dargue, which is said to
refer to the nine days work needed to plough its holding. Maybe the original
DARG(UE) was a workman who sold his labour by the day. Some of our DARGUEs were
lead miners in Allenheads in 1790 and probably earlier.
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DAVIDSON,
DAVIS, DAVISON, DAWSON, All forms of “son of DAVID”. The different names
clearly have different histories which we may, at some future point, explore.
Suffice at the moment to report that some of the DAVISONs were Reivers (q.v.)
(ONS)
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DAW. This may either be one of the many diminutives of DAVID, or perhaps
a nickname from jack-daw.
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DAY. Most probably derived from a Middle-English word for (female) bread-maker,
later extended to mean any worker in dairy or bakery, male or female. Outside
chance that it’s another diminutive of David.
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DELLOW.
Possibly of French Huguenot origin (DELO[E]). Many Dellows in the North East
descend from Richard DELLOW b1815 London who came to Gateshead from London in
the mid-1850s. His family were basket makers in East London. There is a Dellow
Street in Stepney, London E1.
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DENT. Derived from the village
name of Dent in Cumbria (formerly in Yorkshire!) (Grid Ref:SD705868). To confuse
matters, there is another Dent, near Cleator (NY03.13.), but as most DENT's seem
to cluster near the former, it is the probable source.
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Famous DENT's: J M Dent, founder of Everyman Books. A Darlington firm, so part
of the extended North Pennine family.
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John and William DENT, who were 19th century glove makers and
owner/restorers of Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire. While this might seem a
long way from home, perhaps, their grandfather was from Yarm on the river Tees!
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DENWOOD.
This looks like Old English denu-wudu,
the wooded valley, so a dweller in such a place. Rather surprisingly there is no
matching place-name.
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DERMONT.
Like DENWOOD, this ought to be a place name, but isn’t! It would mean
either the deer’s hill or the oak-tree hill (derva, derw).
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D’HARTY.
Probably the same as HARTY, which is first recorded in the 13thC as de Herty.
This is said to refer to the Isle of Harty, Kent, which is the eastern end of
the Isle(s) of Sheppey, separated by the Capel Fleet.
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DICKINSON,
DICKISON, DICKSON, DIXON. All sons of various Dicks and Richards. DIXON is a
Reivers’ name, q.v., but more respectable members of the family are recorded
in the church of St Mary, Stamfordham,
NBL. ((Landranger Sheet 88, Grid Ref. NZ080720). Jeremiah DIXON, said to have
been born in a coal mine (!), was teamed with the astronomer and surveyor
Charles MASON on one of the many British expeditions to observe the 1769 Transit
of Venus. After various adventures, they found themselves in America, where they
were asked to clarify the boundary between the estates of William Penn and Lord
Baltimore (Family name, CALVERT). The result was the 244 mile Mason-Dixon line
between the States of Pennsylvania and Maryland which became famous around fifty
years later as the boundary between the slave and free states. Dixon died in
Durham in 1777. Charles Mason died in America in 1786.
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DOBINSON,
DOBISON, DOBSON. Dobbin is a diminutive of Dobb, which is itself a variant of
Robert.
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DODD, DODDS. Most experts think that Dodd was an Old English personal name. It
also means rounded or lumpish, in which sense it crops up as a name for a hill
(e.g. Brown Dod near Middleton in Teesdale, Outdoor Leisure Sheet 31, NY909239),
so it may be a nickname. DODD is listed amongst the Reivers names (q.v.). There
are examples of DODD and TODD being interchanged in registers.
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DODGSON. Dodge, like Hodge, is a pet name for Roger.
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DODSWORTH. From Dodworth, a village
in Yorks WR.(map)
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DONKIN.
An alternative spelling for DUNCAN, the old Scottish name meaning “brown
warrior”. The name has been around in the North Pennines since the 12th
C.
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DONNERTON. Could be
derived from the place-name of a vanished village or from Donnington. Jane DONNERTON widow of John, married 1707 Abraham ORD/OARDE
at Hexham in 1707.
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DONNISON.
Possibly Donald’s son.
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DOVE. A person gentle as a dove, perhaps.
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DOWNS. A dweller on or near a hill. Alternatively, there is an Old English
personal name, Dūn, so it could mean his son or servant.
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DOWSON.
Son of Dow – a variant of David.
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DRYDEN.
Probably derived from the place-name; Dryden is near Roslin (with its wonderful
chapel!) in Midlothian.
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DUERS, DURES. The names appear in Carlisle in the 1851 census. Nothing else has
so far been found.
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DUNCAN.
This ancient Celtic name, meaning “Brown Warrior”, has been around in
Scotland since well before 1000 AD. Our own DUNCANs are a little more recent,
having been traced back to Fife in 1672.
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DUNFORD..
Possibly from Dunford Bridge, Thurlstone (Grid Ref:SE154022) or Dunford House,
Methley, (Grid Ref:SE388265)
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DUNN.
The dark or swarthy one (dun-coloured),
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DUNNING. Either the offspring of the dark or swarthy one (see DUNN), or
descended from the Anechol, Thane of Dunning (active 1199) in lower Strathearn,
Perthshire.
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DuPRE. From the French,
“of the meadow”. Our DuPREs were Huguenots, who first arrived in Kent and
settled around Canterbury. Then according to family stories, other DuPREs came
over from France just before the French Revolution and took shelter into the
KENNEDY family, some of them marrying into this family. Many of the DuPRE men
went into the Church of England and became ‘Clerks in Holy Orders’ and
teachers.
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DYSON.
Son of Dye – presumably an ancient personal name.
We have DYSONs in Tanfield who
came from Lindley in Huddersfield in the 1700's. Another DYSON was sent from
Huddersfield with the militia to the Newcastle area, also in the 1700s.
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