Helford is a name whose history is connected to the ancient
Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name is derived from when the Helford family once lived in a region called Elford in the county of
Northumberland and in
Staffordshire. The surname Helford 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. As a general rule, the greater the distance between an individual and their homeland, the larger the territory they were named after.
Early Origins of the Helford family
The surname Helford was first found in
Northumberland at Elford, which dates back to at least 1256 when it was listed as Eleford and had two possible origins: having derived from the Old English
personal name Ella or Ellen + ford as in "ford of a man called Ella"; and "ford where elder-trees grow."
[1]CITATION[CLOSE]
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4) Elford is also a village and civil parish in Lichfield District of
Staffordshire that dates back to 1002 when it was listed as Elleford and later was listed in the
Domesday Book of 1086 as Eleford.
[2]CITATION[CLOSE]
Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8) While this latter village is older, the
Northumberland village is where the first records of the name were found.
Early History of the Helford family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Helford research.
Another 255 words (18 lines of text) covering the years 1677, 1714, 1703, 1749, 1837 and 1733 are included under the topic Early Helford History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Helford Spelling Variations
Sound 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 Helford family name include Elford, Elfords, Elfford, Elffords and others.
Early Notables of the Helford family (pre 1700)
Distinguished members of the family include Richard Elford (1677?-1714) English singer, lay vicar at St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, he sang before Queen Anne at St...
Another 26 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Helford Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Helford family to the New World and Oceana
For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for
Ireland, Canada, 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. Early immigrants bearing the Helford surname or a spelling variation of the name include:
Helford Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
- John Helford, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1732 [3]CITATION[CLOSE]
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
Contemporary Notables of the name Helford (post 1700)
- George Helford, American Democrat politician, Alternate Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Massachusetts, 1936 [4]CITATION[CLOSE]
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 16) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
The Helford Motto
The motto was originally a war cry or slogan. Mottoes first began to be shown with arms in the 14th and 15th centuries, but were not in general use until the 17th century. Thus the oldest coats of arms generally do not include a motto. Mottoes seldom form part of the grant of arms: Under most heraldic authorities, a motto is an optional component of the coat of arms, and can be added to or changed at will; many families have chosen not to display a motto.
Motto: Difficilia quae pulchra
Motto Translation: Beautiful things are difficult.