The english Surname

english Name Meaning and History

English: from Old English Englisc. The word had originally distinguished Angles (see Engel) from Saxons and other Germanic peoples in the British Isles, but by the time surnames were being acquired it no longer had this meaning. Its frequency as an English surname is somewhat surprising. It may have been commonly used in the early Middle Ages as a distinguishing epithet for an Anglo-Saxon in areas where the culture was not predominantly English--for example the Danelaw area, Scotland, and parts of Wales--or as a distinguishing name after 1066 for a non-Norman in the regions of most intensive Norman settlement. However, explicit evidence for these assumptions is lacking, and at the present day the surname is fairly evenly distributed throughout the country.
Irish: see Golightly.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

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english Family Facts

Distribution of english Families in the US in 1920

Number of english families

346-690

116-345

1-115

Compiled by Ancestry.co.uk from the 1920 US Federal Census records

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The information for this map came from Ancestry.co.uk’s US Federal Census Collection.

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Threads: 995 - Messages: 2412

Thread	Author	Replies
Earl Vernon English - Hawk Point, Lincoln Co., Missouri	judyflash	0
ENGLISH Valton Bailey 1921-1983	t42Moore	0
ENGLISH Alma Louise 1922-2001	t42Moore	0
Lucy English in Cohoes, NY ~1900	Kristin Shamordola	1
ENGLISH FAMILY RESEARCH	Juliakes	14
English Family	KathrynKimball	2
JAMES ALTON ENGLISH	gjcoldham	0
Leroy English 1937-1982 possibly NH	judithmac39	0
bio: JOHN J ENGLISH	darcy_calif	0
Rube English b. abt 1897 in TX. + Bullock	jehu36	3

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