Surr is a name that first reached
England following the
Norman Conquest of 1066. The Surr family lived in
Essex. Their name, however, is a reference to
St. Saire, Normandy, the family's place of residence prior to the
Norman Conquest of
England in 1066. Alternatively, the name could have been a trade name for someone who was "an assayer of metals."
[1]CITATION[CLOSE]
Lowe, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print. And another variation is that it could have been "an Anglo-Norman
personal name, as Saher de Quincy, the famous Earl of Winchester."
[1]CITATION[CLOSE]
Lowe, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print. There are at least three other listed origins of the name, but these latter three seem the most probable.
Early Origins of the Surr family
The surname Surr was first found in
Essex where the family's first listing of the name was found during the reign of Edward II.
[1]CITATION[CLOSE]
Lowe, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print. Omitting the entries as a
personal name, we also found: Stephanus
filius Seir (1148-1152) and ? filius Saheri (Saieri) c. 1160 in
Lincolnshire. Robertus filius Seer was listed in the 12th century in
Nottinghamshire and Richard Sayer was listed in the
Pipe Rolls of
Devon in 1230. Thomas Sare and John Sayer were listed in the Feet of Fines of
Essex in 1292.
[2]CITATION[CLOSE]
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Early History of the Surr family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Surr research.
Another 231 words (16 lines of text) covering the years 1655, 1718, 1695 and 1705 are included under the topic Early Surr History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Surr 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 Surr 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 Surr include Sayer, Sayers, Sayres and others.
Early Notables of the Surr family (pre 1700)
Another 40 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Surr Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Surr family to Ireland
Some of the Surr family moved to
Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 109 words (8 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Surr family to the New World and Oceana
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 Surr, or a variant listed above:
Surr Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
- John C Surr, aged 25, who landed in South Carolina in 1812 [3]CITATION[CLOSE]
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)