Mawpass History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

The name Mawpass reached English shores for the first time with the ancestors of the Mawpass family as they migrated following the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Mawpass family lived in Malpas, a parish in the union of Wrexham in the county of Cheshire.

Early Origins of the Mawpass family

The surname Mawpass was first found in Cheshire at Malpas, a large village and former market town, in the unions of Nantwich, Great Boughton, and Wrexham, chiefly in the Higher division of the hundred of Broxton. The barony formed part of the possessions of Earl Edwin prior to the Conquest, and was given by the first Norman earl of Chester to Robert Fitz-Hugh, one of the eight barons of his parliament. The castle, the head of the barony, was built soon after the Conquest, and stood immediately adjoining the church, but today all that is left is a circular mound, on which the keep stood. The place name literally means "the difficult passage" from the Old French words mal + pas.

Early History of the Mawpass family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Mawpass research. Another 76 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1625 and 1668 are included under the topic Early Mawpass History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Mawpass 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 Malpas, Malpus, Malpass and others.

Early Notables of the Mawpass family

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

Migration of the Mawpass family to Ireland

Some of the Mawpass 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 Mawpass family

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 Mawpass name or one of its variants: George Malpas arrived in Philadelphia in 1856.