Strate History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

The name Strate is part of the ancient legacy of the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. It is a product of when the family lived in any of a number of places called Street, in Herefordshire, Kent and Somerset. 1

Strate is a local surname, which belongs to the category of hereditary surnames. Other types of local surnames include topographic surnames, which could be given to a person who lived beside any 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. The surname Strate comes from the Old English word stræt, which means Roman road. In the Middle Ages, this word came to denote the main street in a village, and so the surname may also refer to someone who lived on the main street. 2 3

Early Origins of the Strate family

The surname Strate was first found in Devon where they held a family seat from ancient times, but by the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273, the name had scattered throughout ancient Britain as those rolls include: Alice de la Strete, Oxfordshire and Alexander de la Strete, Kent. 4

Kirby's Quest listed John atte Strete, Somerset, 1 Edward III (during the first year's reign of Edward III) 5 and the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 listed Elyas del Strete and Alicia del Strete as holding lands there at that time. 4

Some of the family emigrated to Ireland where the name was typically spelt Estrete or Strete and typically were found in Louth and Meath. We note that John Estrete, or Strete (died after 1511) was an Irish judge, author, law lecturer and statesman who held the offices of King's Serjeant, Deputy Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, and Master of the Coinage of Ireland.

Early History of the Strate family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Strate research. Another 81 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1600, 1621, 1624, 1625, 1650, 1653, 1666, 1670, 1679, 1680, 1689 and 1696 are included under the topic Early Strate History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Strate Spelling Variations

The first dictionaries that appeared in the last few hundred years did much to standardize the English language. Before that time, spelling variations in names were a common occurrence. The language was changing, incorporating pieces of other languages, and the spelling of names changed with it. Strate has been spelled many different ways, including Street, Streat, Strethe, Strete and others.

Early Notables of the Strate family

Notables of the family at this time include Thomas Street (Streete) (1621-1689), an early English astronomer, best known for his book "Astronomia Carolina, a new theorie of Coelestial Motions" which was used as a reference for many years having at least three editions, eponym of the Street lunar crater.William Streat (1600?-1666), was an English divine, born in Devonshire. Thomas Street (1625-1696), was an English judge and politician from Worcester; Robert Streater (1621-1679), an English landscape, history, still-life and portrait artist, architectural painter and etcher, Serjeant Painter to King Charles II; and John Streater (fl. 1650-1670), was an...
Another 97 words (7 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Strate Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Strate family to Ireland

Some of the Strate family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 30 words (2 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Strate migration to the United States +

Thousands of English families in this era began to emigrate the New World in search of land and freedom from religious and political persecution. Although the passage was expensive and the ships were dark, crowded, and unsafe, those who made the voyage safely were rewarded with opportunities unavailable to them in their homeland. Research into passenger and immigration lists has revealed some of the very first Strates to arrive in North America:

Strate Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Ann Strate, who landed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1682 6

Contemporary Notables of the name Strate (post 1700) +

Abigail Strate (b. 2001), Canadian bronze medalist ski jumper at the 2022 Winter Olympics from Calgary, Alberta
Grant Strate CM FRSC (1927-2015), Canadian dancer, choreographer and academic, an original member of the National Ballet of Canada

Citations +

Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Smith, Eldson Coles, New Dictionary of American Family Names New York: Harper & Row, 1956. Print
Harrison, Henry, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary Baltimore: Geneological Publishing Company, 2013. 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)
Dickinson, F.H., Kirby's Quest for Somerset of 16th of Edward the 3rd London: Harrison and Sons, Printers in Ordinary to Her Majesty, St, Martin's Lane, 1889. Print.
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)