Show ContentsSunde History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Sunde is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived at Sunderland, a seaport parish in Durham.

Early Origins of the Sunde family

The surname Sunde was first found in Yorkshire where they held a family seat from very ancient times, some say they were descended from the ancient Baron Scrope of Bolton, who it was said in 1385 "was the best knight of the whole county at jousts and tournaments."

Early History of the Sunde family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Sunde research. Another 106 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1627, 1630, 1673, 1750 and 1762 are included under the topic Early Sunde History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Sunde 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 Sunde family name include Sunderland, Sundeland and others.

Early Notables of the Sunde family

Distinguished members of the family include

  • Thomas Sunderland of Ulverstone


United States Sunde migration to the United States +

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 Sunde surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Sunde Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Ole Anderson Sunde, who landed in Texas in 1848 [1]

Contemporary Notables of the name Sunde (post 1700) +

  • James L. Sunde, American politician, Member of South Dakota State House of Representatives 20th District, 1919-26 [2]
  • Harald Sunde (b. 1954), Norwegian military officer, Chief of Defence of Norway
  • Harald Sunde (b. 1944), Norwegian international footballer


The Sunde 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: Devant si je puis
Motto Translation: Foremost if I can.


  1. 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)
  2. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, December 8) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html


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