Nighting History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• England
• Ireland

Etymology of Nighting

The name Nighting comes from the ancient Norman culture that was established in Britain after the Conquest of 1066. It was a name for a person with a good singing voice. The name is a metaphor likening the original bearer of the name to the nocturnal songbird called a nightingale. Its name is derived from the Old English words niht, meaning night, and galan, meaning to sing. 1

"The name 'night-in-gale' seems peculiarly inappropriate to the bird that sings in the calmest of midsummer nights. The stormy petrel may be blown upon the gale and the cry of the screeching owl may be heard above the noise of the wind, but this bird, the sweetest singer of the woodland, loves profound silence. We find that the termination 'gale' is from the Anglo-Saxon 'galan,' to sing, we can understand that this is the bird who passes the 'night-in-song.' " 2

Early Origins of the Nighting family

Early History of the Nighting family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Nighting research. Another 83 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1627, 1645, 1722, 1765, 1768, 1775, 1787, 1788, 1790, 1793, 1794, 1796, 1799, 1804, 1805, 1806, 1807, 1809, 1815, 1820, 1824, 1826, 1829, 1839, 1849 and 1947 are included under the topic Early Nighting History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Nighting Spelling Variations

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 Nightingale, Nightingall, Nightengale and others.

Early Notables of the Nighting family

• Sir Thomas Nightingale (d.1645), High Sheriff of Essex in 1627...
• He was the progenitor of the Nightingale Baronetcy of Newport Pond...
• This baronetcy has continued from the inception to today when Sir Charles Manners Gamaliel Nightingale is the 17th Baronet (b.1947.) The ancestral seat of the Nightingale family was held in Kneesworth...
• The Nightingale estate passed to Robert Gascoigne, cousin to the Sir Robert Nightingale, 4th Baronet (d.1722) for reasons unknown, who also adopted the name and coat of arms of Nightingale...

Migration of the Nighting family to Ireland

Some of the Nighting family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. More information about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Nighting family

Because of this political and religious unrest within English society, many people decided to immigrate to the colonies. Families left for Ireland, North America, and Australia in enormous numbers, travelling at high cost in extremely inhospitable conditions. The New World in particular was a desirable destination, but the long voyage caused many to arrive sick and starving. Those who made it, though, were welcomed by opportunities far greater than they had known at home in England. Many of these families went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. Analysis of immigration records indicates that some of the first North American immigrants bore the name Nighting or a variant listed above: Thomas Nightingale, who came to Virginia in 1648; Kathleen Nitingale settled in Virginia with her husband in 1649; Henry Nightingale, who came to Charleston in 1792.