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Our Surnames F
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Ba to Bi Bl
to By C D
E F
G H
IJK L
M N
OPQ R
Sa to Si Sk
to Sy TUV WXYZ
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FAIRBROTHER.
Possibly FAIR’s brother, FAIR being a name recorded in Domesday Book, whereas
FAIRBROTHER is not noted until the 16th C.
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FAIRLESS, FAIRLESSE, Fairlace.
We have FAIRLESS names going back
to the 1700s in Stanhope, but the standard works are mostly silent. Best guess
is Fair = Fair and less = leah (Old
English, “clearing”). Some sources give FAIRLESS as a variant of FAIRLIE or
FAIRLEY, old Scottish names of somewhat dubious provenance. However, known
spellings of these names do not include any likely to have evolved into
FAIRLESS.
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FALCUS.
Probably one of the many variants of FAWKE(S). The names are believed to derive
from Old German falco, a falcon, so could be either a falconer or a
nickname for a hawkish person.
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FALLA. The Spanish Armada, 1588. “God breathed and they were scattered”. The
poor souls who were not drowned in the storms that saved Elizabeth’s England,
made their precarious way home – or tried to. Some made landfall around the
British Isles and were killed; others were more fortunate. Our FALLAs descend
from survivors who landed on the Northumbrian coast and their descendants
eventually spread throughout the area from the Borders to the Tees. There are at
least two FALLA place-names which may well be linked: Falla (Landranger Sheet
80, Grid Ref. NT707139) and Falla Brae, near Pebbles, (Landranger Sheet 73, Grid
Ref.NT283403). Other FALLAs who landed in the Channel Islands, subsequently
emigrated to America.
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FALLOWFIELD. The meaning is literal; however, the term fallow has changed
its meaning. While we think of it as land being rested between crops, it
originally meant newly-cultivated, see FALLA.
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FARRELL. Probably a variant of FAREWELL, a name deriving from the valedictory
phrase.
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FAWCETT. Derived from a place-name, of which there are several candidates with
assorted spellings: Fawcett (Westmorland), Facit (Lancashire), Forcett
(Yorkshire NR) or Fawside (East Lothian). The earliest reference in the Family
Tree will give the most likely origin.
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FEATHERSTON, FEATHERSTONE,
FETHERSTONE, FEATHERSTONEHAUGH, All these derive from the place-name,
Featherstone(haugh) There are Featherstones in YWR, Staffordshire,
Northumberland and elsewhere, so the name has probably arisen in various
locations. The place-name means “four stones”, deriving from ancient
megaliths, also known as cromlechs or tetraliths, built by placing a fourth
stone on top of three uprights, the whole having originally been turfed over.
(Old English feother+stān). The North Pennine example, Featherstone Castle
(Landranger Sheet 86, Grid Ref. NY675610), belonged to the Featherstonehaugh
family in the Middle Ages so might well have taken its name from the family and
not v-v. This is reinforced by the fact that the place-name was Fetherstanhishalu
in 1204, i.e. Mr Featherstone’s secluded place (or maybe hillside! –haugh
can be halh or hoh).
www.featherstone-society.com (ONS)
featherstone@one-name.org.
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FELL.
Two possible derivations: a dweller on a fell- or hillside or alternatively a
shortened version of fellmonger, a dealer in hides and skins.
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FENWICK. This derives from the place-name, Fenwick, which in turn means wic
(dairy farm) by the fen. We have a number of villages to choose from, two in
Northumberland, (Landranger Sheet 87, Grid Ref NZ055729, Landranger Sheet 75,
Grid Ref NU066401 ), one in Yorkshire (Landranger Sheet 111, Grid Ref.
SE596162), and one in Scotland (Landranger Sheet 70, Grid Ref. NS465435) Robert
FENWICK of Ponteland married Elizabeth CHARLTON at Ovingham NBL in 1771.
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FERGUSON. Son of Fergus, a personal name going back to the 12thC in
Cumberland.
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FINDLAY, FINLAY. Gaelic fionnlagh – “Fair Hero”, recorded back to
the 11thC.
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FLANAGAN. An ancient Irish name:
“The Red One”.
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FLEMING.
An immigrant from Flanders. The Flemings have been coming over nearly as long as
the Normans, and usually more peacefully! (ONS) fleming@one-name.org
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FLETCHER. A maker or seller of arrows, from the Norman-French flecher or flechier.
The name ARROWSMITH means exactly the same but is derived from Old English. Both
appear around the same time in the 13thC.
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FLINTOFF. Possibly of Russian
origin.
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FOAWELL,
FOWELL, FOYLE. Possibly a nickname for a bird-like person. The only other
suggestion is “One who lives in a hole in the ground” – etymology
uncertain, but not unlikely in a North Pennines mining context! The name,
however, seems to have originated in Devon / Dorset / Wiltshire and spread
around Britain through the centuries. While there are FOYLE place-names in
Ireland (Lough Foyle and River Foyle in Northern Ireland), the expert on the
origin of Irish surnames, Dr MacLysaght, did not regard the name as being of
Irish origin, but having arrived from England shortly after the Conquest.
Other variants of the name include FOELL, FOIL, FOYEL and FOYL. (ONS)
foyle@one-name.org
(Mr. Christopher Foyle)
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FORDYCE . From the place-name, Fordyce, in Banff. (map)
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FOREMAN. Not a section-leader, as in the modern industrial sense, but a
swineherd, from the Old English fōr, a pig. There is also a chance
that some FORDMANs may have been mis-spelled at one time or another.
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FORREST. A dweller in the forest.
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FORSTER. Most probably a forest dweller, but possibly a saddler (Old French fustrier)
or even a scissors-maker (Ofr. forcetier).
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FOSTER. As FORSTER, with the additional possible meaning of a foster-parent or
nurse.
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FREAK. No jokes, please, as one of the meanings is “warrior” (Old English freca)
so you could be in trouble! Alternatively it could be part of the multiple set
of names deriving from FIRTH which all come from Old English firthe,
“woodland”.
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FREDERICK, FREDERICKSON. An Old German given name, found in Eastern counties
back to the 11thC. Not a lot in our area, however.
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FRENCH. Just what it sounds like! Examples go back to 13thC.
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FRIEND. The surname may have started as a nickname for a companionable person,
the word itself coming from the Middle English "frend" and the
Old English "freond". In the Middle Ages the term was also used
to denote a relative or kinsman, and the surname may also have been acquired by
someone who belonged to the family of a more important figure in the community.
An alternative suggestion is that the name developed from the Old English "freo"
meaning free. This would refer to someone who was not a slave, but was
considered a free man. From the above, it seems probable that the name did not
derive from one person and this is borne out by the subsequent distribution of
the surname in the UK. The name has its highest distribution in SE England, with
Devon following closely behind. The rest of the country shows a variable
distribution with some clustering in Yorkshire and Lancashire with whom our
North Pennine FRIENDs are probably associated. The oldest reference to the
surname so far found is of a Robert FREND in the Nottinghamshire Pipe Rolls for
the year 1166.
(ONS) friend@one-name.org , (Mr. Malcolm
Friend)
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FRINEL. The name occurs twice in the Parish Registers of St
Helen’s Auckland in the mid 18th C. No source, meaning or origin
has yet been established!
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FULLERTON, FULTON. The two
names, which are comparatively rare in England and Wales but widespread in
Scotland and Ireland, are in all probability of separate origin. However, their similarities in pronunciation have probably
caused overlap through the centuries (one Scottish guide lists 31 variants!) so
they’re dealt together here. The –ton element means that they probably
derive from a place name. FULTON may be from the tun by the swamp.
FULLERTON is more likely to be the tun of the fullers or cloth-workers.
Both might be associated with birds; Ekwall says the Fullerton in Hampshire is
the dwelling of the bird-catchers. There
is said to be from a vanished Fulton in Ayrshire, or maybe Roxburghshire, the
spelling of which may have been Foulton. Consensus is that the name (or names)
are Saxon in origin and that many FULTONs migrated northward into Scotland,
presumably to avoid the Normans. However, there are records of English FULTONs
in the Middle ages including Sir de FULTON de HOLT (from Holt in Norfolk) at the
time of the Crusades and a family in Shropshire in 1604. Meanwhile, in Ireland
Fultons were noted in Antrim in 1611. FULTONs have been Carnmoney since the
early eighteenth century and seem to have had some connection with the Tyrone
family.
(ONS). fulton@one-name.org
(Mr. Ken Mitchell)
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More
information on FULTON is available at www.freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~fultondata
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FURLONG.
As everybody lived at or near this land measurement (the long side of a standard
acre, 22 x 220 yards), it is unlikely to have been taken up as a surname.
Scholars therefore think – backed up by a quotation from Chaucer, no less –
that it might be a nickname for a good runner!
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FURNACE. Despite the metalworking connections in the North Pennines, this is
nothing to do with smelting, but comes from Furness, the peninsula on the coast
of Cumbria.
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to By C D
E F
G H
IJK L
M N
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Sa to Si Sk
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