Winstein History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

Winstein is one of the thousands of new names that the Norman Conquest of 1066 brought to England. It comes from the Old English personal name Wynstan. That name is derived from the Old English elements wyn, meaning joy, and stan, meaning stone.

Early Origins of the Winstein family

The surname Winstein was first found in Gloucestershire where they are conjecturally descended from Ansfrid de Cormeiles, a Norman knight from the Abbey of Cormeiles in Normandy.

Early History of the Winstein family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Winstein research. Another 66 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1556, 1576, 1602 and 1655 are included under the topic Early Winstein History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Winstein Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Winston, Winstone and others.

Early Notables of the Winstein family

Another 42 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Winstein Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Winstein family to Ireland

Some of the Winstein family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 61 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Winstein migration to the United States +

Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Winstein name or one of its variants:

Winstein Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Henry Winstein, who landed in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1836 1
A Winstein, who arrived in Mississippi in 1856 1

Citations +

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)