Stillington History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The name Stillington came to England with the ancestors of the Stillington family in the Norman Conquest of 1066. It comes from the Norman name Steflingefled.

Early Origins of the Stillington family

The surname Stillington was first found in Yorkshire at Stillingfleet, a village and civil parish in the Selby district of North Yorkshire. The place dates back at least The Domesday Book where it was listed as Steflingefled from the Old English personal name + inga + fleot and literally meant "stretch of river belonging to the family or followers of a man called Styfel." 1

Early History of the Stillington family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Stillington research. Another 109 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1466, 1491, 1635, 1689 and 1699 are included under the topic Early Stillington History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Stillington 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 Stillington, Stillingfleet and others.

Early Notables of the Stillington family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was

Robert Stillington (d. 1491), Bishop of Bath and Wells, and Lord Chancellor, the son of John Stillington, who held property at Nether Acaster, near York

Migration of the Stillington 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 Stillington name or one of its variants: Silvester Stillingfleet who settled in Jamaica in 1684.

The Stillington Motto +

The motto was originally a war cry or slogan. Mottoes first began to be shown with arms in the 14th and 15th centuries, but were not in general use until the 17th century. Thus the oldest coats of arms generally do not include a motto. Mottoes seldom form part of the grant of arms: Under most heraldic authorities, a motto is an optional component of the coat of arms, and can be added to or changed at will; many families have chosen not to display a motto.

Motto: Magna est veritas
Motto Translation: Great is truth.

Citations +

Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)