| ![Show Contents]() Risbey History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
- Origins Available:
 England The illustrious surname Risbey is classified as a habitation surname, which was originally derived from a place-name, and is one form of surname belonging to a broader group called hereditary surnames. Habitation names were derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. Topographic names, form the other broad category of surnames that was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree.
Other local names are derived from the names of houses, manors, estates, regions, and entire counties. As a general rule, the greater the distance between an individual and their homeland, the larger the territory they were named after. For example, a person who only moved to another parish would be known by the name of their original village, while people who migrated to a different country were often known by the name of a region or country from which they came. Risbey is a place-name from in Buckinghamshire where there are two parishes listed of that name. The Saxon place-name was recorded as Hrisanbyrge in 903, 1 and appears as Riseberg in the Domesday Book of 1086. 2 The family name arose when a Breton who had accompanied William the Conqueror in the Norman Conquest of 1066 settled there after the victory over the Saxons at the Battle of Hastings on land granted to him by the new king. In a way, William Forgers, who became William de Risebrough, was coming home again, because the inhabitants of Brittany, a peninsula in the northwest of France, originally came from the British Isles. Early Origins of the Risbey familyThe surname Risbey was first found in Buckinghamshire where they were conjecturally descended from Raoul de Forgers, Lord of Forgers, about the year 900 A.D. Descended was Alfred who survived the Battle of Hastings and acquired the Abbey of Risle on the banks of the River Risle in Buckingham. Early History of the Risbey familyThis web page shows only a small excerpt of our Risbey research. Another 51 words (4 lines of text) covering the year 1086 is included under the topic Early Risbey History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Risbey Spelling VariationsSince the Old and Middle English languages lacked definite spelling rules, Breton surnames have many spelling variations. Latin and French, which were the official court languages, were also influential on the spelling of surnames. The spelling of surnames was rarely consistent in medieval times, and scribes and church officials recorded names as they sounded rather than adhering to any specific spelling rules. Therefore, it was common to find the same individual referred to with different spellings of their surname in the ancient chronicles. Moreover, a large number of foreign names were brought into England after the Norman Conquest, which accelerated and accentuated the alterations to the spelling of various surnames. The name has been spelled Risebrough, Risebrow, Risbrow, Riseby and others. Early Notables of the Risbey familyMore information is included under the topic Early Risbey Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Migration of the Risbey familySome of the first immigrants to cross the Atlantic and come to North America carried the name Risbey, or a variant listed above: Thomas Riseby who settled in Virginia in 1623.
- Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
- Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
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