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Bunny History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Citations

Bunny History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland

The name Bunny is part of the ancient legacy of the early Norman inhabitants that arrived in England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Bunny was a Norman name used for a bunn, or literally from the Old French word bonne which means good. 1 Another source presumes the name could have been from place Bougnies, a Norman village in Belgium. 2

Early Origins of the Bunny family

The surname Bunny was first found in Nottinghamshire at Bunny, a parish, in the union of Basford, N. division of the wapentake of Rushcliffe. "Bunny Park, the seat of Lord Rancliffe, to the east of the village, is an ancient mansion of brick ornamented with stone, with a massive gateway entrance. The church is a spacious and well-built edifice, partly in the decorated and partly in the later English style, with a tower surmounted by a crocketed spire." 3

The Bunnys of Ibdrope were said to have held that Hampshire estate from temp. King John. 4

Further to the north in Scotland, William Buny, was a Scottish merchant who had safe conduct into England, 1412; Patrick Buny held land in Linlithow, 1461; and Henry Buny held a tenement there in 1472. 5

Early History of the Bunny family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bunny research. Another 126 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1540, 1543, 1558, 1559, 1562, 1567, 1574, 1584, 1588, 1601, 1612, 1617 and 1619 are included under the topic Early Bunny History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bunny Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Bunney, Bunny, Buny, Bunnie and others.

Early Notables of the Bunny family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was

Edmund Bunny (1540-1619), a noted theological writer who acquired the estates of the Hartops of Dalby. He was born in 1540 at the Vache, the seat of Edward Restwold, his mother's father, near Chalfont...
Francis Bunny (1543-1617), was also a theological writer, born 8 May 1543, at the Vache, being third son of Richard, and youngest brother of Edmund Bunny. He entered Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1558...

Bunny migration to the United States +

Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Bunny name or one of its variants:

Bunny Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Sarah Bunny, who landed in Virginia in 1661 6

Bunny Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Samuel Bunny, aged 22, who landed in New York, NY in 1890 6
Mr. Herman Bunny, (b. 1898), aged Infant, Cornish settler, from Penryn, Cornwall, UK travelling aboard the ship "Majestic" arriving at Ellis Island, New York on 8th September 1898 en route to Long Island, New York, USA 7
Mrs. Mary Jane Bunny, (b. 1868), aged 30, Cornish settler, from Penryn, Cornwall, UK travelling aboard the ship "Majestic" arriving at Ellis Island, New York on 8th September 1898 en route to Long Island, New York, USA 7
Miss Rosa Bunny, (b. 1891), aged 7, Cornish settler, from Penryn, Cornwall, UK travelling aboard the ship "Majestic" arriving at Ellis Island, New York on 8th September 1898 en route to Long Island, New York, USA 7

Bunny migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Bunny Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Miss Ann Bunny, (b. 1884), aged 4, Cornish settler travelling aboard the ship "Roma" arriving in Queensland, Australia on 3rd May 1888 8
Mrs. Martha Bunny, (b. 1865), aged 23, Cornish settler travelling aboard the ship "Roma" arriving in Queensland, Australia on 3rd May 1888 8

Bunny migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 9

Bunny Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

Richard Bunny who settled in Barbados in 1679 with his wife and daughter

Contemporary Notables of the name Bunny (post 1700) +

John Bunny (1863-1915), American actor who made over 150 short films – many of them domestic comedies with the comedian Flora Finch
Brice Frederick Bunny (1820-1885), English-born, Australian jurist from NewBerry, Berkshire, Judge, Commissioner of Titles and politician in colonial Victoria (Australia)
Rupert Charles Wulsten Bunny (1864-1947), Australian painter, born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria, third son of Brice Frederick Bunny,
Henry Bunny (1822-1891), Englsh-born, New Zealand politician, Member of Parliament in the Wairarapa, New Zealand (1865-1881)
Bunny Tekokiri Miha Wahi Walters (1953-2016), New Zealand singer of Ngai Te Rangi descent
Bunny Campione, British antiques consultant, best known for appearance for over 20 years on the BBC television program Antiques Roadshow
Bunny Yeager (b. 1930), American photographer
Bunny Steinman, American Democratic Party politician, Alternate Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Florida, 2008 10
Bunny Goldfarb, American Democratic Party politician, Candidate for Arizona State House of Representatives 15th District, 1998 11

Citations +

Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States Of America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1975. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0636-X)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. 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)
Cornwall Online Parish Clerks. (Retrieved 3rd May 2018). Retrieved from http://www.opc-cornwall.org/Resc/pdfs/emigration_ellis_island_1892_on.pdf
Cornwall Online Parish Clerks. (Retreived 3rd May 2018). Retrieved from http://www.opc-cornwall.org/Resc/pdfs/emigration_australia_queensland.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 17) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 19) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html