Gunner History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Gunner was first found in Lincolnshire where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor. After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, having prevailed over King Harold, granted most of Britain to his many victorious Barons. It was not uncommon to find a Baron, or a Bishop, with 60 or more Lordships scattered throughout the country. These he gave to his sons, nephews and other junior lines of his family and they became known as under-tenants. They adopted the Norman system of surnames which identified the under-tenant with his holdings so as to distinguish him from the senior stem of the family. After many rebellious wars between his Barons, Duke William, commissioned a census of all England to determine in 1086, settling once and for all, who held which land. He called the census the Domesday Book, 1 indicating that those holders registered would hold the land until the end of time. Hence, Gunner or Gonnor was a common Norman Christian name. However, it is a female name. Gonnor, wife of Gilbert Crispin, Gonnor wife of Richard 1st of Normandy, Gunnora mother of William de Briouse. The many references in the Domesday Book to a variation in spelling of the Norman Gunner include Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Northumberland, Somerset, Suffolk and Berkshire. Most of them likely refer to the wife of a Norman noble who held as an under-tenant pending the arrival of a male heir. The name has no relationship to a person who handled guns.