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Our Surnames Sk to Sy
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Ba to Bi Bl
to By C D
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G H
IJK L
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OPQ R
Sa to Si Sk
to Sy TUV WXYZ
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SKINNER. A
worker or merchant of skins.
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SLACK.
(ONS). A dweller in the shallow valley. (Old
Norse slakki.)
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SLATER. A slate or roof maker. Not to be confused with SLAYTER (ONS)
which means a slaughterer or butcher.
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SMAILES, SMALES, SMILES. These names can mean very different things in different
parts of the country. In the North and Borders, the meaning is probably
“small”. At the other end of England, however, on the border between Sussex
and Kent, there are SMAILES’ who take their name from a lost vill, Smeghel.
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SMEATON. From the place-name, either Great & Little Smeaton near
Northallerton, (Landranger Sheet 93, NZ 350040) or Kirk & Little Smeaton, (Landranger
Sheet 111, SE 520170). John SMEATON the Civil Engineer, was born on 8th June,
1724 at Austhorpe on the outskirts of Leeds and died there on the 28th October
1792. (Landranger Sheet 104, SE 370340) While his most famous design was the
Eddystone Lighthouse,1755-59, he did much in our area, including rebuilding the
mediaeval Alston High Mill,1767. Appropriately, for the namesake of a great
Engineer, Smeaton means “smith’s tun”.
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SMELLIE. SMILLIE. Possibly from the Derbyshire village of Smalley. An outside
chance, as it is much more a Scottish name than English. No other derivation has
been suggested.
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SMITH. The most widely held surname in England, from the occupation that has
kept its meaning for 1000 years. Unusually, SMITH turns up as a given name in
Alston in the 19th Century. Smith BARRON was the son of Robert BARRON
and Mary ELLIOT, christened in Dec 1811; we can only guess where his name came
from!
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SNOWDEN, SNOWDON. From the place-name. You don’t have to climb mountains in
North Wales; Snowden Carr and Crags are in
N. Yorkshire, (SE 1750)
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SOFTLEY. From the place-name. We have a choice of three, in Co Durham (NZ0926),
Northumberland (6755) and Roxburghshire. (Softlaw East Mains, NT7531)
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SOULSBY. Probably the same as Soulby, of which there are two in Cumbria; one at
the north end of Ullswater, (Landranger Sheet 90, NY 463253), the other
near Kirby Stephen (Landranger Sheet 91, NY 749109)
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SOURBUTTS. From Sowerbutts. Lancashire, near Garstang. (SD4945)
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SOUTHERN. One from the South, perhaps. A
SOUTHREN is recorded in Perth in the 13th C.
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SPALDING. From Spalding in Lincolnshire, which in turn takes its name from the
fen-dwelling tribe of the Spaldas. No-one is sure how they got the
name!
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SPARKE. A lively or sprightly person, from the Old Norse sparkr,
“lively”.
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SPEARMAN. The name can be taken literally, and probably arose in many places.
Earliest references are in Staffordshire and Essex in the 14th C. Our
only SPEARMAN is Isabella (“Born – not of the County”) who married John
ROBSON, a glassworker, at Bishopwearmouth in 1799. See BREWIS.
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SPEDDING. No data yet available.
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SPENCE. As with SPENCER and DESPENSER, this relates to the provision of supplies
in a mediaeval buttery, hence one who was in charge or worked there.
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SPOOR, SPOORS, SPURR: Probably a maker of spurs. (ONS)
spoors@one-name.org
(Mr M J Spoors)
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SPROAT, SPROTT. The name goes back pre-conquest, and is believed to have been
introduced into Scotland by displaced Saxons, thus having a clear North Pennines
/ Borders pedigree. It might be of Old English (meaning “sprout”, i.e. “A
chip off the Old Block”) or a Scandinavian personal or place name. In support
of the first of these possibilities is the Saxon, Wulfric SPOT, or SPROT, Count
of Mercia, who founded the abbey at Burton upon Trent c1004, was a thegn of
Ethelred the Unready, and died c1006 fighting the Danes at the Battle of Ringmer.
He had close connections with Gospatrick, Earl of Dunbar, where there just
happens to be a town called Spott! Of course, some folk may have taken their
name from that town without connection to Wulfric or Gospatrick. How the “r”
was intruded is not clear, but once it was, the lengthening of the vowel from
SPROT to SPROAT is easily understood in terms of the southern Scottish accent.
Variants of the name probably include SPRATT (the little fish, which was sprot
in Old English), SPROSON and even SPROUL. Needless to say, many of the holders
of the “new” names deny any connection with the others! SPROT appears at
around Kendal in the C16. The Venerable Thomas SPROTT, born Kendal 1571 was a
Catholic martyr executed at Lincoln in 1600.
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The name first occurs around Haltwhistle-Knaresdale-Alston around 1690-1700.
Some of these people may have come out of Galloway. (ONS)
sprott@one-name.org
(Mr D Sprott, who has more information available
in hard copy as “SPROTTICHRONICON”)
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SQUINCE. The name crops up in the Northallerton area, occasionally
spelled SQUANCE.
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STACEY
. A variant of EUSTACE, an ancient name derived via Latin from Greek, and
meaning “Fruitful”.
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STAFFORD. Probably from Stafford, the county town, although there are other,
smaller contenders. The place-name itself means “the ford marked by staves or
posts”.
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STAG, STAGG. Probably a hunter.
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STALEY, STEALEY, STELEY. There are two likely origins for these
names. The first is that they are variants of STAVELEY, a village name. While
there are four, researchers believe the most likely is in Derbyshire. It means
the place where staves are cut. The other origin is German, STAEHLI, from miners
who arrived possibly as early as the 14th C. As with other German
names (e.g. WALTHER = WALTER), it would rapidly have been absorbed into an
existing English form. Our STALEYs came to Teesdale in the form of a young
lead-miner and his sister, along with a group of other miners, some with their
wives, in 1758. They came from the
Elton area. All the STALEYs still
living in Teesdale today are descended from this one young man, although other
STALEY descendants have moved from Teesdale to elsewhere in Co. Durham and
further afield. (ONS).
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STAMPER. Perhaps a worker at a
mint, making coins.
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STANSFIELD.
From the place-name in W Yorkshire. (Stansfield Moor, SD9228)
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STANGER. As with many names, STANGER has at least a dual source. In the North,
STANGER derives from one of several place-names from the Old Norse stong,
meaning “pole”: Stanger and Stangrah (NY1327, SD1185) in Cumbria or Stang
How in North Yorkshire (NZ7613). In the South, it comes from stan (stone) +
gore, a triangular piece of land.
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STANWICK, STANWIX. Probably from Stanwix. Near Carlisle (Grid Ref. NY3957) where
there is a camp of the Roman Wall.
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STEEL. One “as true as steel”. In the middle ages, steel was believed to be
a purer form of iron, and that the repeated forging that turns iron into the
steel of the best sword-blades was driving out impurities, when in fact it was
absorbing carbon from the forge.
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STEMPSON, STIMPSON. Son of
Stephen.
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STEPHEN.
The name became common in England after the Conquest but was already old, from
Greek roots, meaning “crown”.
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STEPHENSON. Son of STEPHEN. Our area’s most famous STEPHENSONs were the father
and son engineers, George (1781 – 1848) and Robert (1803 – 1859). Their
histories are too well documented for me to summarise here. Just don’t confuse
with Robert Stevenson (1772 - 1850), who designed or constructed at least 25
Scottish lighthouses!
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STEVENS. As STEPHEN. The –s may mean either STEPHEN’s son or servant.
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STEWART. Synonymous with STEWARD, that is, a keeper of the lands or household on
behalf of the owner.
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STOBART, STUBBERT. From Old English stubheard,
related to STUBBS (q.v.), probably in the sense of tree-work. Other related
names, STUBBUS, STUBBIN(G)S, and STUBBER exist, but STUBLEY is completely
different. The O is probably a slip of tongue or pen in the 18th/19th C.
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STOBBS, STUBBS. This can be a nickname for a person of stubby build or, if you
and your family are of a defiantly tall and thin stature, then your ancestors
lived by, or worked with, the stumps of trees!
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STOCKDALE. From the place-name, either Cumbria (NY2534 and NY4905) or Yorkshire.
(Stockdale Moor, NZ6303)
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STODDARD, STODDART. In most instances, a horse-breeder, from stōd+hierde.
The modern word, “stud”, survives although a stōd was an
ordinary working horse rather than a thoroughbred. Other variations are STODHART,
STODDARD, STUDART, STUDDEARD, STUDDERT, STIDDARD, STOTHARD, STOTHART, STOTHERT,
STUTTARD. There is, however, a tradition that some variants may be from “DE LA
STANDARD”, the standard-bearer to
Viscompte De Pulesdon, a noble Norman who came over with William the Conqueror. (ONS)
stuttard@one-name.org
(Mr B Stuttard)
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STOKOE. Probably from Stockhow Hall in Cumbria (NY0616).
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STONE, STONES. A dweller at or near the stony place. Most early references are
far from our area, where stony places are the norm!
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STOODLEY, STUDLEY. From one of several place-names. While that in Yorkshire is
closest to our area, our researcher’s family traces back to Dorset in 1769.
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STOREY. STORY. From an Old Norse given name, STORI,
which is the spelling in the earliest references. The name is common throughout
the North East of England in Northumberland (Hexham), Co. Durham and Yorkshire.
Many STOREYs emigrated to Ireland. For details, see www.jackstorey.com
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STORER. The word, adapted into Middle English from Old French, has had much the
same meaning for 700 years. So, the first STORERs were guardians of the
household stores. In Scotland, there is an additional association with
shepherding, and together they also suggest a wool-warehouseman.
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STORK. A nickname for the long-legged one, Old English storc. Did storks, the feathered variety, once cross the Channel?
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STOTT. (ONS).
From Middle English stott, a
bullock. Maybe a nickname for someone wild or from a specialist herdsman.
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STOUT. The stout one, in character as much as girth. STOOT is probably the same
name.
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STRAFFIN, STRAUGHAN, STRACHAN.
From the town in Kincardineshire (map)
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STRIKE,
STRIKER. This name is said to derive from the practice of corn-measurement,
where to strike is to level the top of the open bushel with a straight-edged
stick. The English have never been keen to standardise measuring systems and
controversy raged from Magna Carta onwards as to whose bushel-measure was legal,
and whether the top was heaped or level. For the benefit of those who use litres,
a bushel is eight gallons (1 gallon = 4.54 litre) and a quarter was eight heaped
bushels or nine striked bushels. When this was declared illegal, the corn
merchants renamed the quarter the “fat” or “vat” and carried on
regardless. Meanwhile, the STRIKER, an early official of Weights and Measures,
tried vainly to ensure fair play.
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SUMMERS. Nothing to do with the season, apparently, but all to do with carrying
goods. It comes from sumpter. which may mean a human porter or a pack-horse.
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SUNLEY. A number of place-names exist in N, Yorkshire which are probably linked:
Sunley Court (SE6881), Sunley Hill (SE6882), Sunley Raynes (SE2871) and Sunley
Wood (SE5275)
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SURTEES. A dweller on the River Tees.
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SUTTON. From a place of that name. Sutton under Whitestone Cliff (SE4882) or
Sutton-in-Craven, perhaps? (SE0043)
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SWAINSON. Son of a swain, or son of SVEINN,
a passing Viking.
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SWAN. This may be derived from swain or SVEINN,
as above, or it could be from someone living at the sign of the Swan.
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SWINDALE, SWINDLE. There is a tradition that this means swineherd, but that does
not appear in the standard works. However, there are many Swindale place-names
in Cumbria ( e.g. Swindale Beck NY5113, NY6928, NY8016) and Swindale almost
certainly means “valley of the pigs.”
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SYMN. See SIMM.
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Ba to Bi Bl
to By C D
E F
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