Show ContentsRokewood History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

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  • England
Rokewood Family Crest Download (JPG) Heritage Series - 600 DPI

Family Crest Download (JPG) Heritage Series - 600 DPI

Etymology of Rokewood

What does the name Rokewood mean?

Rokewood is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in a wooded area with distinct rocky terrain. Rokewood 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.

Early Origins of the Rokewood family

The surname Rokewood was first found in Norfolk where they held a family seat from early times and their first records appeared on the census rolls taken by the ancient Kings of Britain to determine the rate of taxation of their subjects.

Early History of the Rokewood family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Rokewood research. Another 93 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1578, 1600, 1606, 1664 and 1696 are included under the topic Early Rokewood History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Rokewood 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 Rokewood family name include Rockwood, Rookwood and others.

Early Notables of the Rokewood family

  • Ambrose Rookwood or Rokewood (c. 1578-1606), English conspirator, the eldest son of Robert Rookwood (d. 1600), of Stanningfield, Suffolk. The family had been possessed of the manor of Stanningfield si...

Migration of the Rokewood family

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 Rokewood surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Anthony Rockwood who settled in Virginia in 1635; C. Rockwood settled in New Orleans in 1823; William Rockwood settled in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland in 1772.


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