Longfield History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

Longfield is one of the most ancient names to come from the Norman culture that arrived in Britain soon after the Norman Conquest of 1066. It is a name for a person who was a tall person. The surname Longfellow is derived from the Old English word lang, meaning long or tall, and the Old English word felagh, which meant partner or shareholder.1

Early Origins of the Longfield family

The surname Longfield was first found in Huntingdonshire, now part the district of Cambridgeshire where in 1165, Henry de Longavilla held lands from Nigel de Luvetot. He descended from a branch of the Gifford family, barons of Langueville and Bolbec near Dieppe, Normandy. Osberne de Longeville or Bolbec gave the church of Pictariville, Normandy c. 990.

Other early listings of early variants of the name include: Richard de Logvil in Buckinghamshire in 1199, and Roger de Longavilla in Huntingdonshire c. 1200. 2 Longville as a place name occurs in a few places throughout Britain including: Newton Longville is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire; Weston Longville is a civil parish in Norfolk; and Cheney Longville is a small village in Shropshire which is home to Cheney Longville Castle a much restored 14th century fortified manor house.

The Longfellow variant may have been a nickname, 3 but this variant was almost always found in Yorkshire. Indeed, the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's family claims descent from the Yorkshire branch. 3 Early Yorkshire rolls revealed Peter Langfellay during the Corpus Christi Guild and Elizabeth Longfellow during the Deposition from York Castle. Margery Langfellow was listed in the Corpus Christi Guild in 1491. 4

Early History of the Longfield family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Longfield research. Another 80 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1689, 1797, 1807 and 1882 are included under the topic Early Longfield History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Longfield Spelling Variations

It is only in the last few hundred years that the English language has been standardized. For that reason, Anglo-Norman surnames like Longfield are characterized by many spelling variations. Scribes and monks in the Middle Ages spelled names they sounded, so it is common to find several variations that refer to a single person. As the English language changed and incorporated elements of other European languages such as Norman French and Latin, even literate people regularly changed the spelling of their names. The variations of the name Longfield include Longfellow, Longuville, Longville, Longfield and others.

Early Notables of the Longfield family

Another 38 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Longfield Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Longfield family to Ireland

Some of the Longfield family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 96 words (7 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Longfield migration to the United States +

Faced with the chaos present in England at that time, many English families looked towards the open frontiers of the New World with its opportunities to escape oppression and starvation. People migrated to North America, as well as Australia and Ireland in droves, paying exorbitant rates for passages in cramped, unsafe ships. Many of the settlers did not make the long passage alive, but those who did see the shores of North America were welcomed with great opportunity. Many of the families that came from England went on to make essential contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. Some of the first immigrants to cross the Atlantic and come to North America carried the name Longfield, or a variant listed above:

Longfield Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

William Longfield, who arrived in New York, NY in 1833 5
Robert Longfield, aged 40, who landed in Mobile, Ala in 1854 5

Longfield migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Longfield Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Mr. Henry Higgin Longfield who was convicted in Lancaster, Lancashire, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Camden" on 21st March 1831, arriving in New South Wales, Australia 6

Contemporary Notables of the name Longfield (post 1700) +

Robert "Bob" Longfield, American composer, arranger, conductor and educator
Tom Longfield (1906-1981), English cricketer
Lloyd Longfield, Canadian politician, Member of the Canadian Parliament for Guelph (2015-)
Samuel Mountifort Longfield (1802-1884), Irish lawyer, judge and academic, the first Professor of Political Economy at Trinity College, Dublin
Richard Longfield (1734-1811), 1st Viscount Longueville, an Irish politician, High Sheriff of County Cork (1758-1761)
Richard Longfield (1802-1889), Irish politician, Member of Parliament for County Cork (1835-1837) High Sheriff of County Cork (1833-1834)
Judi Longfield PC (b. 1947), Canadian former politician, Member of the Canadian Parliament for Whitby-Ajax (1997-2004) and Whitby-Oshawa (2004-2006)
Cynthia Longfield (1896-1991), Irish entomologist and explorer, considered an expert on the dragonfly, called "Madame Dragonfly" for her extensive work

Citations +

Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States Of America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1975. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0636-X)
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
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)
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 2nd December 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/camden