Freshfield Family History

from an unidentified place in France named Frècheville. perhaps also from Fressingfield (Suffolk) with loss of the medial syllable. The place-name is recorded as Fessefelda [sic] in 1086, Frisingefeld in 1185, Fresingefeld in 1197, and Fressingfeld in 1229.

It may mean ‘open land of the people of a man called Frīsa’ from the Old English personal name Frīsa (meaning ‘the Frisian’) + the group-name suffix -ingas (genitive -inga-) + feld ‘open land field’.

Alternatively, it could possibly mean ‘furze-covered open land’ with Old English *fyrsen (in a metathesized form *frysen) as the first element.