Mirfield Family History

In Yorks from Mirfield (WR Yorks). The place-name denoted either a piece of pleasant open country (Old English myrig + feld) or a piece of open land where games were played (Old English myrgen ‘joy pleasure’). The surname was sometimes confused or conflated with Murfin.

In Sussex and Kent, perhaps from Maresfield (Sussex) with loss of medial -s-. The place-name probably denotes ‘open land by a marsh or pool’ (Old English mersc or mere + feld). The 1379 Cuckfield example might alternatively derive from Merryfields in Cuckfield (Sussex), which may have denoted ‘open land where games are played’ like the name in (1).

However, the place-name's earliest spelling is Merifeelds in 1606, so it could have been named from the surname altered by folk etymology.

In Essex, perhaps from Merefields in Little Waltham (Essex), possibly recorded as Merisfeld (1216-72) with a similar etymology to that of Maresfield in (2).