Origin of the Norfolk surname
There is more than one theory regarding the source of the Norfolk surname, though a few of them seem more plausible than others. One theory is the surname originated from links to invaders from the North, Scandinavians and other people from Nordic countries, i.e. Norse-folk. One more theory, is the surname Norfolk, simply means "folk from the north" and was originally used to tell the difference between "folk from the south" and themselves; as is also probably the same for people originating from the counties Norfolk and Suffolk and their respective surnames. However, these theories would apply to everybody that lived in the area or county and wouldn't be relevant to individuals.
There are two stems for the Norfolk surname in the UK, Essex and Yorkshire. It is probable that the origin for the Yorkshire Norfolk‘s was a tenant of the Norman family, Warenne* and rented land form their estate in Norfolk. Near the beginning of the twelfth century this tenant moved form the Norfolk estate and relocated to one of the other Warenne estates in Yorkshire. The people form Yorkshire began calling him "of Norfolk", over time this stuck and became his surname.
The surname Norfolk, over the years, has been spelt in many different ways: Norfolk, Nortfolc, Northfolk, Norfax, Norff, among others. It wasn't until the fifteenth century that the name Norfolk dropped the proceeding word "de". "de Norfolk" undoubtedly shows that people with this surname initially came from Norfolk the county (de- from Latin dç-, from). It must be noted that the standardisation of spelling in England only started in the 18th century. Before 1732 legal documents in England were written mainly in Latin and manuscripts were translated in to English, which could cause changes in spelling. Also, names of places and surnames themselves have changed a lot over time. In a lot of cases the people that were in charge of written records basically wrote down names phonetically, what they heard and like Chinese-whispers mistakes were made.
* William de Warenne, the first Earl of Surrey; originated from an area of Normandy called Varenne, near Bellencombre. He fought in the 1066 Battle of Hastings, alongside William I and was given 13 estates in England by William as a reward for his loyalty, including the counties Norfolk and Yorkshire. He died from an arrow wound in the same year he was bestowed the title of the Earl of Surrey, 1088.
Original Authors: Steve Norfolk ‘Norfolk Family History'
Edit Update Authors: Ryan Norfolk
Updated On: 10/04/2007
