Spirit Family History

From Middle English spuret of uncertain origin, it might be a reduced form of Middle English Sporehard ‘spur hard’, no doubt for a horseman attested in the name of Galfr. Sporehard 1327 Galfr. Sporard 1332 in Subsidy Rolls (Brailes Warwicks). However, there is no evidence for Sporehard in the records of N England, and a reduction to Spuret to account for the 1287 bearer below would be surprisingly early.

Perhaps the name represents an unrecorded Middle English *spuret ‘little spur’. The change to Spirit by folk etymology is recorded by Redmonds Dictionary of Yorks Surnames, noting that Joshua Spurritt of Holbeck is likely to be identical with Joshua Spirit or Spright of Holbeck 1753–61 in Parish Registers (Leeds). Perhaps from Middle English *Spirhard, a Norman French borrowing of an unrecorded Continental Germanic personal name composed of spir ‘spear’ + hard ‘brave’.

Whether this name has survived to the present time is unclear, for although the medieval name is recorded in Yorks, there is no evidence that it lies behind or influenced the pronunciation of the name in (1). The Norfolk form Spurrett (1615) shows a post-medieval change in pronunciation. For alternative interpretations of Spirhard, see (ii).

From Middle English spir (Old English spīr) ‘shoot, blade, reed’ + the Old French suffix -(h)ard for a tall thin man perhaps, and synonymous with Spearing. For this type of hybrid compound, see Sherrard. Alternatively, Spirhard might mean ‘breathe hard’ or ‘search hard’, a compound of either Middle English spīren (Old French espirer) ‘to breathe out’ or Middle English spiren (Old English spyrian) ‘to enquire, search’ + the Middle English adverb hard.

Some of the following post-medieval bearers may alternatively belong with (1) or (3). The following bearers clearly point to another possible origin but remain unexplained. Perhaps it is a variant of Middle English skirwhit(e) ‘skirret, water parsnip’ (see Skerritt), altered by folk etymology through association with Middle English spir(e) ‘stalk, blade of a plant’. The Gloucs form Spurrett (1610) shows a post-medieval change in pronunciation.