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Fold is a name of ancient Norman origin. It arrived in England with the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Fold family lived in Staffordshire at Fauld, a township, in the parish of Hanbury, union of Burton-upon-Trent. 1
The name is generally thought to have been an occupational name for 'the falder,' a herd, a shepherd, one who tended cattle; from the Anglo-Saxon word, afold. Despite the above Staffordshire entry, the name is a "well-known North-English surname, especially familiar to Cumberland." 2
The surname Fold was first found in Staffordshire where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor of Fauld. Conjecturally they are descended from Hubert and Robert of Fauld, father and son Norman nobles, who held their lands at the time of the taking of the Domesday Book survey in 1086 from Henry de Ferrers. 3
A very rare surname, we did find one entry for the variant Fold, that being: John atte Fold in the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire in 1327. 4
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Fold research. Another 165 words (12 lines of text) covering the years 1438, 1536, 1633, 1673, 1684, 1690 and 1734 are included under the topic Early Fold 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 Fauld, Faulds, Faldow, Faldo, Faldoe, Fauldo, Fauldow, Fauldhouse, Falder, Fauls, Fawles and many more.
Outstanding amongst the family at this time was John Faldo (1633-1690), an English nonconformist minister and controversialist. He "is said to have been educated at Cambridge, and to have been a chaplain in the army, so that he held no benefice...
Another 41 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Fold 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 Fold or a variant listed above: Bartholomew Faldoe who settled in Massachusetts in 1635.