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Origins Available: English, Scottish
Norrie is a name whose history dates far back into the mists of early British times to the days of the Anglo-Saxon tribes. It is a name for a person from the north. The surname is usually derived from the Anglo-French words noreis and norreis, which both mean northerner. ^[1]CITATION[CLOSE]
Lowe, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print. Occasionally, Norrie is an occupational name for a nurse; in this case, the derivation is from the Old French word norrice, which means nurse. Lastly, the surname Norrie is sometimes a local surname for a "dweller at the north house." ^[2]CITATION[CLOSE]
Harrison, Henry, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary Baltimore: Geneological Publishing Company, 2013. Print


The surname Norrie was first found in Hampstead Norreys (Hampstead Norris), a village and civil parish in Berkshire. Dating back to the Domesday Book, where it was listed as Hanstede ^[3]CITATION[CLOSE]
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4), the village is today still noted for its Norman parish church and the remains of a Norman motte-and-bailey castle nearby.

The village name's changed to Hampstede Norreys, when the Norreys family bought the manor in 1448. A branch of the family was found in Speke, Lancashire where at one time they held Speke Hall.

In the 14th century, some of the family were found in West Derby, Lancashire. "The Norris family had an estate here in the fourteenth century, acquired by William, a younger son of John le Norreys of Speke. It descended in the fifteenth century to Thomas Norris, whose daughter and heir Lettice married her distant cousin Thomas Norris of Speke, and so carried the estate back to the parent stock. One of their grandsons, William Norris, was settled here, his estate remaining with his descendants to the end of the seventeenth century. The family remained constant to the Roman Church and had to face loss and suffering in consequence, especially during the Commonwealth; thus the threat of a fresh outbreak of persecution as a result of the Oates plot appears to have broken the resolution of 'Mr. Norris of Derby,' who conformed to the legally established religion in 1681. Norris Green is supposed to indicate the site of their estate." ^[4]CITATION[CLOSE]
'Townships: Scarisbrick', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1907), pp. 265-276. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp265-276 [accessed 21 January 2017].

"From the de Erneys it came, also by marriage, to the family of Norres, of whom was Sir William Norres, who brought from the palace of Holyrood, at Edinburgh, part of the royal library and some curious pieces of fine oak wainscot, to Speke Hall: this mansion was re-erected by Sir Edward Norres. The family retained the manor until the 18th century, when their heiress married Lord Sidney Beauclerk, fifth son of Charles, Duke of St. Alban's; whose grandson, Charles George, sold Speke to the Watt family. The great hall is very lofty, with wainscot and a ceiling of oak, and having a mantelpiece brought from Holyrood: at each angle of the southern wall, within the court, are two spacious corbelled windows, one of which lights the hall. The house was originally surrounded by a moat, of which the outlines remain, and over which a bridge leads to the principal entrance. The whole forms a highly interesting specimen of old English domestic architecture." ^[5]CITATION[CLOSE]
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.

The Norrie Family Crest was acquired from the Houseofnames.com archives. The Norrie Family Crest was drawn according to heraldic standards based on published blazons. We generally include the oldest published family crest once associated with each surname.

This page was last modified on 8 September 2017 at 12:06.