Elborough Family History

In SW England, probably from Elborough in Hutton (Somerset), recorded as Illebera, Eleberie in 1086, and Elleberwe in 1185. The place-name derives from the Old English personal name Ella * Iella + Old English bearu ‘wood grove’. The substitution of -borough (Old English burg ‘fortified place’) for -bery is common in English place-names and in this instance may have been reinforced by the presence in the same parish of an Iron Age hill fort (known as Elborough Hill, but the name is of uncertain antiquity).

More doubtfully, it may come from Elbury (now lost) in Shirehampton (Henbury parish, Gloucs), recorded in 1299 as Elleberge and probably denoting ‘elder-tree mound’ (Old English elle + beorg). The earliest surname form de Elleb[ur]ghe is recorded in Westbury on Trym next to Henbury, but no evidence has been found that Elbury was an inhabited place in the medieval period.

In east Kent, it probably originates from Hillborough in Reculver (Kent) with loss of initial H-. The 13th-century bearers cited below constitute the earliest evidence for the place-name, which is independently recorded as Halberghe in 1341, Halybergh in 1378, Hilbarowe in 1479, and Helboro, Helborough, Elboro in 1499–1500.

It derives from Old English hālig ‘holy’ + beorg ‘hill mound’. Some instances of the name in London may alternatively belong at (1).