Soon History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Early Origins of the Soon family

The surname Soon was first found in Suffolk where Earl Soham dates back to the Domesday Book 1 as lands held by Count Alan. At that time a manor was listed on four carucates of land. Some of the family remained in Normandy as Radulphus Sone was listed there in a census conducted 1180-95. 2

The same census also listed a R. Sone or Sonne in 1198. The name literally means " homestead by the pool" when translated from the Old English sae + ham.

Soham is also a small town in Cambridgeshire that has a similar lineage that dates back to before the Domesday Book. For it is here that Saegham was listed c. 1100.3

But the name dates back further; Luttingus, a Saxon nobleman built a cathedral and palace at Soham around 900 AD, on the site of the present day Church of St. Andrews.

Early History of the Soon family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Soon research. Another 103 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1086, 1540, 1575, 1584, 1598, 1601, 1619, 1640, 1648, 1671 and 1685 are included under the topic Early Soon History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Soon Spelling Variations

It is only in the last few hundred years that the English language has been standardized. For that reason, Anglo-Norman surnames like Soon are characterized by many spelling variations. Scribes and monks in the Middle Ages spelled names they sounded, so it is common to find several variations that refer to a single person. As the English language changed and incorporated elements of other European languages such as Norman French and Latin, even literate people regularly changed the spelling of their names. The variations of the name Soon include Soam, Soams, Soames, Somes, Soame, Soan, Soanes and others.

Early Notables of the Soon family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was

William Soone or Zoone (fl. 1540-1575), was an English jurist and cartographer, educated at Cambridge. "He became doctor of civil and canon laws probably at some university on the continent." 4

Soon migration to the United States +

Faced with the chaos present in England at that time, many English families looked towards the open frontiers of the New World with its opportunities to escape oppression and starvation. People migrated to North America, as well as Australia and Ireland in droves, paying exorbitant rates for passages in cramped, unsafe ships. Many of the settlers did not make the long passage alive, but those who did see the shores of North America were welcomed with great opportunity. Many of the families that came from England went on to make essential contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. Some of the first immigrants to cross the Atlantic and come to North America carried the name Soon, or a variant listed above:

Soon Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Joh Peter Soon, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1753 5

Citations +

Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
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)
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
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)