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| Origins Available: |
| | England |
The distinguished surname Oford is derived from "Offord," a place name that can be found in both Huntingdonshire and Warwickshire.
The surname Oford was first found in Huntingdon, where the family was anciently seated as Lords of the Manor. After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, having prevailed over King Harold, granted most of Britain to his many victorious Barons. He granted lands to his sons, nephews and other junior lines of his family, and they became known as under-tenants. They adopted the Norman system of surnames which identified the under-tenant with his holdings so as to distinguish him from the senior stem of the family. Hence, conjecturally, the surname is descended from the tenant of the lands of Offord Cluny, held by Odo from Eustace the Sheriff, a Norman noble who was recorded in the Domesday Book census of 1086.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Oford research. Another 80 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1221, 1273, 1327 and 1349 are included under the topic Early Oford History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Multitudes of spelling variations are a hallmark of Anglo Norman names. Most of these names evolved in the 11th and 12th century, in the time after the Normans introduced their own Norman French language into a country where Old and Middle English had no spelling rules and the languages of the court were French and Latin. To make matters worse, medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, so names frequently appeared differently in the various documents in which they were recorded. The name was spelled Offord, Offorth, Oford, Oforth, Offorde, Afford, Afforde, Afforth, Afforthe, Offworth, Ofworth, Offwurth and many more.
Another 44 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Oford Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.