Show ContentsCumberlande History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Cumberlande is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in the county of Cumberland. As a general rule, the greater the distance between individuals and their homeland, the larger the territory they were named after. For example, people 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.

Early Origins of the Cumberlande family

The surname Cumberlande was first found in Cumberland, a historic county of North West England that existed from the 12th century until 1974. The earliest record of the place was when it was listed as Cumbraland in 945 in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle and literally meant "region of the Cymry or Cumbrian Britons" from the Old English words Cumbre + land. 1

The first record of the family was found here in Cumberland where William de Cumberland was listed in the Pipe Rolls of 1191. Some of the family branched to Yorkshire, where William de Cumberlande was registered in the Subsidy Rolls of 1301. 2

Early History of the Cumberlande family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cumberlande research. Another 42 words (3 lines of text) covering the years 1524, 1631, 1648, 1670, 1703, 1705, 1706, 1718, 1732, 1792, 1811 and 1870 are included under the topic Early Cumberlande History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Cumberlande 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 Cumberlande family name include Cumberland, Cumbeland, Cumberlande, Comerland and many more.

Early Notables of the Cumberlande family

Notables of the family at this time include Richard Cumberland (1631-1718), an English philosopher and Bishop of Peterborough, born on 15 July 1631, in the parish of St. Bride's, London. "His father was a citizen of Fleet Street. He was educated at St. Paul's School, and in 1648 admitted to Magdalene College, Cambridge. His great-grandson Richard Cumberland (1732-1811), was a dramatist, born on 19 Feb. 1732, in the Master's Lodge at Trinity College...
Another 73 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Cumberlande Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Cumberlande 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 Cumberlande surname or a spelling variation of the name include: William Cumberland who arrived in Philadelphia in 1873.



  1. Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
  2. Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)


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