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Esten is a name of ancient Norman origin. It arrived in England with the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Esten family lived in Cheshire, at the Manor of Eastham.
The surname Esten was first found in Cheshire where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor of Eastham. At the taking of the Domesday Book in 1086, a census initiated by Duke William of Normandy after his conquest of England at Hastings in 1066, Eastham consisted of a village and Mill on the banks of the Mersey and the tenant-in-chief was Earl Hugh, the Earl of Chester who later became the Earl of Carlisle. Eastham was one of many holdings in Cheshire by Earl Hugh and conjecturally the Easthams are descended from a relative or a Norman noble tenant who operated the Mill. Two or three centuries later when the village of Liverpool took shape, there was a ferry from Eastham, a part of the borough of Bebington.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Esten research. Another 89 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Esten History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Endless spelling variations are a prevailing characteristic of Norman surnames. Old and Middle English lacked any definite spelling rules, and the introduction of Norman French added an unfamiliar ingredient to the English linguistic stew. French and Latin, the languages of the court, also influenced spellings. Finally, Medieval scribes generally spelled words according to how they sounded, so one person was often referred to by different spellings in different documents. The name has been spelled Eastham, Eastam, Estham, Esteham, Esterham and others.
More information is included under the topic Early Esten Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
To escape the political and religious persecution within England at the time, many English families left for the various British colonies abroad. The voyage was extremely difficult, though, and the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving. But for those who made it, the trip was most often worth it. Many of the families who arrived went on to make valuable contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. An inquiry into the early roots of North American families reveals a number of immigrants bearing the name Esten or a variant listed above: