The 10 Oldest English Surnames Still in Use Today (Origin and Meaning Included)

The 10 Oldest English Surnames Still in Use Today… (Origin and Meaning Included)

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:24 10, 9, 8
5:09 7, 6, 5
8:49 4, 3, 2, 1
13:49 Other names

Do you belong to the oldest surname in England? Well these are the 10 oldest English surnames still in use today, defined as the earliest appearance in the English historical record of the root of the surname.
Now it was only really after the Norman conquest of 1066 that surnames developed into the forms we recognise today, a process that was largely complete by around 1400. Yet before this, old bynames or nicknames were commonly used to distinguish people with the same personal name, often by their trade, appearance, status, age or other factors. And many of these names then developed into proper surnames many of you still carry today.

Now I should also note that old personal names in Anglo-Saxon England often later developed into surnames, such as Godwin or Edward. But I have excluded these from this list as I previously went through many of them in a separate video on Anglo-Saxon surnames, and they often weren’t used as bynames in medieval times. I have also excluded religious names like Cuthbert and Oswald to focus more on normal names not tied to Saints.

10. Long
Earliest bearer: Ætheric the Long — c.984
Number 10 on the list is Long, which derives from this Old English word lang or long, meaning long or tall. Now the Normans actually also brought in their own version of the name with a similar meaning, yet the name existed in England before the Normans. It was a straightforward physical description for someone noticeably taller or longer-limbed than the people around him, hence why its not surprise there was a parallel French version.

Sources:
Little Surname Meaning & Little Family History at Ancestry.co.uk®
Child Surname Meaning & Child Family History at Ancestry.co.uk®
Long Surname Meaning & Long Family History at Ancestry.co.uk®
Stubbs Surname Meaning & Stubbs Family History at Ancestry.co.uk®
Black Surname Meaning & Black Family History at Ancestry.co.uk®
Young Surname Meaning & Young Family History at Ancestry.co.uk®
White Surname Meaning & White Family History at Ancestry.co.uk®
Cook Surname Meaning & Cook Family History at Ancestry.co.uk®
Smith Surname Meaning & Smith Family History at Ancestry.co.uk®
Wright Surname Meaning & Wright Family History at Ancestry.co.uk®