Cerfithay History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

Cerfithay is a name whose history is connected to the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name is derived from when the Cerfithay family once lived in a valley or at the foot of a hill. Cerfithay is a topographic surname, which was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree. Habitation names form the other broad category of surnames that were derived from place-names. They were derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. Other local names are derived from the names of houses, manors, estates, regions, and entire counties.

Early Origins of the Cerfithay family

The surname Cerfithay was first found in Yorkshire where Ricardus de Kerfforth was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379. A very rare name, we must look to 1572 to find the next record, that of Margarette Kyrfote, of Bolhngton who appears in the Reg. Prestbury, Cheshire at that time. A few years later, John Kirfoote, or Kyerfoote, Cheshire appears in the Register of the University of Oxford in 1583. 1

Early History of the Cerfithay family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cerfithay research. Another 101 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1379, 1661, 1664, 1688 and 1741 are included under the topic Early Cerfithay History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Cerfithay 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 Cerfithay family name include Kerfoot, Kerford, Kerfont, Kerfut, Kerriford and many more.

Early Notables of the Cerfithay family

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

Migration of the Cerfithay family to Ireland

Some of the Cerfithay family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. More information about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Cerfithay family

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, 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 Cerfithay surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Thomas Kerfitt, who settled in Virginia in 1624; and Elizabeth Kerfoote, who sailed to Virginia in 1637.

Citations +

Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)