| ![Show Contents]() Chaffinch History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
- Origins Available:
 England The history of the name Chaffinch goes back those Anglo-Saxon tribes that once ruled over Britain. Such a name was given to a bald man. The surname Chaffinch is a diminutive derived from the Old French words chauf and cauf, which both mean bald. This is ultimately derived from the Latin word calvus, which has the same meaning. The words chauf and cauf are supplemented by the suffixes in or on, which have several variations and are two of the most common diminutive suffixes. Early Origins of the Chaffinch familyThe surname Chaffinch was first found in Dorset where branches of the family were found in Chettle and Folke. Chettle dates back to at least the Domesday Book where it was listed as Ceotel and probably was derived from the Old English word ceotel, meaning "deep valley." Folke dates back to 1244 where it was derived from the Old English word folc, which meant people, as in "land held by the people." 1 Early History of the Chaffinch familyThis web page shows only a small excerpt of our Chaffinch research. Another 56 words (4 lines of text) covering the years 1600, 1602, 1627, 1628, 1641, 1666, 1668, 1688 and 1714 are included under the topic Early Chaffinch History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Chaffinch Spelling VariationsSound 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 Chaffinch family name include Chaffin, Chaffinch, Caffin and others. Early Notables of the Chaffinch familyDistinguished members of the family include Thomas Chaffin, High Sheriff of Dorset in 1627; and Matthew Caffyn (1628-1714), an English General Baptist preacher and writer from Horsham, Sussex. "He was the seventh son of Thomas Caffin, by Elizabeth his wife. In Lower's 'Worthies of Sussex' it is erroneously said that 'his father was a German;' the family existed in the neighbourhood at an early date." 2Thomas Chiffinch (1600-1666), was Keeper of...
Another 70 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Chaffinch Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
 Chaffinch migration to the United States | + |
For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, 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. Investigation of the origins of family names on the North American continent has revealed that early immigrants bearing the name Chaffinch or a variant listed above:
Chaffinch Settlers in United States in the 17th Century- John Chaffinch who settled in Connecticut in 1630
- Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
- Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
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Chaffinch migration to the United States 
