Tepe History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland

The ancient Anglo-Saxon surname Tepe came from the Old Danish personal name Topi. Many Scandinavian personal names were left in the British Isles as a legacy of the Viking raids which plagued the coastal regions of Britain from the 8th to 10th centuries, and many of these eventually became Anglo-Saxon surnames.

Early Origins of the Tepe family

The surname Tepe was first found in Somerset, where the first records of the name are Robert Top and William Toppe, bother recorded there 1 Edward III (during the first year of the reign of King Edward III.) 1

"The Dorset family of Topp probably belong to the ancient Wiltshire family of Topp, now extinct, that held the manor of Stockton in Wilts from before the Reformation until the close of last century, when it passed by marriage into the possession of Robert Balch, Esq., of St. Audries, Somerset." 2

"The manor of Killenick [at Land's End, Cornwall] belonged, in the reign of Richard II. to John Longeland and Lankford. This manor has been dismembered ; and it was sold in the year 1720, under a decree of chancery, in its divided state. Bosvargus, which was formerly a seat belonging to a family of that name, was at one time inherited by the learned Jonathan Toup, rector of St. Martin's, near Looe." 3

Some of the family were found in Scotland as "Edward Top admitted [was] burgess of Aberdeen, 1486 is doubtless the Edward Top who was fined in 1497 for 'failzeit in the waching of the tone.'" 4

Early History of the Tepe family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Tepe research. Another 60 words (4 lines of text) covering the years 1202, 1580 and 1639 are included under the topic Early Tepe History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tepe Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Tepe family name include Toop, Toope, Tooppe, Toopes, Toup, Toupe, Tupe, Toowp and many more.

Early Notables of the Tepe family

More information is included under the topic Early Tepe Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tepe migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Tepe surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Tepe Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Hermann Tepe, aged 21, who arrived in Missouri in 1848 5

Contemporary Notables of the name Tepe (post 1700) +

William R. Tepe Jr., American Democratic Party politician, Candidate for Mayor of Norwood, Ohio, 1979
W. Carl Tepe, American Democratic Party politician, Candidate for Mayor of Norwood, Ohio, 1975
R. Edward Tepe, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Ohio, 1940 (alternate), 1944 (alternate; Member, Credentials Committee), 1948 (member, Credentials Committee), 1952, 1956; Mayor of Norwood, Ohio, 1948-56; Defeated, 1945

Citations +

Dickinson, F.H., Kirby's Quest for Somerset of 16th of Edward the 3rd London: Harrison and Sons, Printers in Ordinary to Her Majesty, St, Martin's Lane, 1889. Print.
Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
Hutchins, Fortescue, The History of Cornwall, from the Earliest Records and Traditions to the Present Time. London: William Penaluna, 1824. Print
Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
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)