Cerforth is a name of ancient
Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from a family once having lived
in a valley or at the foot of a hill. Cerforth is a
topographic surname, which was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree.
Habitation names form the other broad category of surnames that were derived from place-names. They were derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. Other
local names are derived from the names of houses, manors, estates, regions, and entire counties.
Early Origins of the Cerforth family
The surname Cerforth was first found in
Yorkshire where they held a
family seat from very ancient times, some say well before the
Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.
Early History of the Cerforth family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cerforth research.
Another 149 words (11 lines of text) covering the years 1379, 1583 and 1664 are included under the topic Early Cerforth History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Cerforth Spelling Variations
The English language only became standardized in the last few centuries; therefore,
spelling variations are common among early
Anglo-Saxon names. As the form of the English language changed, even the spelling of literate people's names evolved. Cerforth has been recorded under many different variations, including Kerfoot, Kerford, Kerfont, Kerfut, Kerriford and many more.
Early Notables of the Cerforth family (pre 1700)
More information is included under the topic Early Cerforth Notables in all our
PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Cerforth family to Ireland
Some of the Cerforth family moved to
Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 31 words (2 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Cerforth family to the New World and Oceana
For many English families, the political and religious disarray that shrouded
England made the far away New World an attractive prospect. On cramped disease-ridden ships, thousands migrated to those British colonies that would eventually become Canada and the United States. Those hardy settlers that survived the journey often went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Analysis of immigration records indicates that some of the first North American immigrants bore the name Cerforth or a variant listed above: Thomas Kerfitt, who settled in Virginia in 1624; and Elizabeth Kerfoote, who sailed to Virginia in 1637.