Gaunter History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Netherlands
England
Wales

Like many surnames, the name Gaunter comes from a personal name, in this case, from Gunter or Gunther. Such names may be patronymic, signifying that the person's father was named Gunther, or they may simply have been chosen arbitrarily at the time when people were taking surnames. Gunther is a French and German name, coming from the Old French "gontier" or the Old German "gunter," both of which mean "battle-army."

However one source notes "a tradition in the family says, from gamut d'or, allusive to the gauntlets in their arms; but this is very improbable." 1

Another source note that the name could have been originally Norman as the Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae lists N. Gontier, Normandy 1180. This same source notes that "Sir Peter Gontier or Gunter accompanied Bernard de Neumarchd in the conquest of Brecknock 1088, and obtained a fief there." 2

Early Origins of the Gaunter family

The surname Gaunter was first found in Oxfordshire, where two men bearing the first names Gunter and Gonther were recorded in the Domesday Book at that time. 3 1

"In Berkshire the name has long been known. In the reign of Henry VI., the Gunters were Berkshire gentlemen. Colonel Gunter, who was a zealous adherent of Charles II., belonged to a family living at Racton, Sussex, in the 16th and 17th centuries, and hailing from Gilleston in Wales before that time. The name also occurs in Gloucestershire, and a reference will be found to it under that county.4

The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 included: Geoffrey le Ganter, Cambridgeshire; and Adam le Ganter, Oxfordshire; Walter Guntard, Norfolk; and John Gunter, Oxfordshire. 5

Early History of the Gaunter family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Gaunter research. Another 64 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1094, 1100, 1205, 1221, 1581 and 1626 are included under the topic Early Gaunter History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gaunter 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 Gonther, Gunter, Gunther, Guenthner, Guntard and many more.

Early Notables of the Gaunter family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was Edmund Gunter (1581-1626), English mathematician and inventor, namesake of Gunter's chain, a measuring device used for land survey and Gunter's rule/scale which...
Another 29 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Gaunter Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gaunter 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 Gaunter name or one of its variants:

Gaunter Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Adm Gaunter, aged 25, who arrived in New York, NY in 1873 6

Citations +

Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
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)
Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
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)