Amias Family History

From Amiens (Somme in Picardy), the centre of the medieval trade in woad which made a blue dye used by dyers of wool cloth in English towns. In classical sources, the place-name is recorded as Samarobriva Ambianorum, a Celtic name meaning ‘the bridge over the river Somme’ plus the affix Ambianorum ‘of the Ambiani’, an ethnic name from Celtic ambi(o)- ‘around’, perhaps meaning ‘those on both sides (of the Somme)’ or possibly ‘the people of the world’.

The affix in its ablative form Ambiānis has replaced the place-name which it once qualified and is the source of the current name Amiens. In England, the name generally appears as Amias, as in ‘merchants of Amias’ (1326 in London Letter Books). This originates from the Middle English personal name Amias, a variant of Amis, see Ames.

Thomas Amyas (1521) of Wethersfield in Essex was no doubt of the same family as Robert Amys, Amyse, Amyce, Ameys (1462–78 in The Essex Review 61). Some of the surname examples listed under (1) with no preposition could also belong here. The two surnames were easily confused.