Birkenhead History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The lineage of the name Birkenhead begins with the Anglo-Saxon tribes in Britain. It is a result of when they lived near a birch-covered headland. The surname Birkenhead is derived from the Old English words bierce, meaning birch, and heafod, meaning head. 1

Early Origins of the Birkenhead family

The surname Birkenhead was first found in Cheshire, at Birkenhead, a rising sea-port, market-town, and township, in the union, and Lower division of the hundred, of Wirrall. Another branch of the family was found at Backford, a parish, in the union of Great Boughton, partly in the Higher division of the hundred of Wirrall, and partly in the Lower division of the hundred of Broxton.

"During a great part of the 13th and 14th centuries, the manor was held by the Masseys, of Timperley; about the year 1580 it was sold to Thomas Aldersey, by whom it was soon afterwards alienated to the Birkenheads, who resided at Backford Hall until the family became extinct in the male line in 1724." 2

Early History of the Birkenhead family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Birkenhead research. Another 77 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1350, 1400, 1553, 1560, 1571, 1572, 1590, 1608, 1614, 1616, 1617, 1679 and 1696 are included under the topic Early Birkenhead History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Birkenhead Spelling Variations

Only recently has spelling become standardized in the English language. As the English language evolved in the Middle Ages, the spelling of names changed also. The name Birkenhead has undergone many spelling variations, including Birkenhead, Birkehead, Birkenheed, Birkenhedd, Birkead, Birkinhead and many more.

Early Notables of the Birkenhead family

Notables of the family at this time include

Sir John Birkenhead or Berkenhead (1616-1679), was a British political writer and journalist was imprisoned several times during the Commonwealth for his obtrusive Royalism. His loyalty to the crown w...

Birkenhead migration to the United States +

To escape the unstable social climate in England of this time, many families boarded ships for the New World with the hope of finding land, opportunity, and greater religious and political freedom. Although the voyages were expensive, crowded, and difficult, those families that arrived often found greater opportunities and freedoms than they could have experienced at home. Many of those families went on to make significant contributions to the rapidly developing colonies in which they settled. Early North American records indicate many people bearing the name Birkenhead were among those contributors:

Birkenhead Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

William Birkenhead, who landed in Virginia in 1653 3
Esther Birkenhead, who arrived in Virginia in 1695 3

Contemporary Notables of the name Birkenhead (post 1700) +

Frederick Edwin Smith Birkenhead (1872-1930), English lawyer and statesman

Citations +

Harrison, Henry, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary Baltimore: Geneological Publishing Company, 2013. Print
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)