The Burrington Family
BeckyBurrington@aol.com
From the End of the Village
Influenced by West Germanic and Old Norse, Old English was spoken and written in what is now England and southeastern Scotland between the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century.
From the 12th century, people began to use surnames to distinguish one family from another. Surnames could be patronymic, referring to a male ancestor, occasionally matronymic, or derived from a nickname. The name Burrington was first recorded in the 1400’s in Chudleigh, Devonshire, England, and was a locational or topographic surname, referring to the place where the family lived. In Old English or Anglo-Saxon language, it is believed that "bur, " "end" and "tun" referred to "the villa and an enclosure." Another description refers to the Old English word burh as a fortified place, along with tun (pronounced toon) meaning a farmstead or enclosure.
We translate "Burrington" as the end of the villa. We were probably so named because we simply lived at the end of the gate or end of the village. And so our name begins in the Middle Ages. Our destiny begins in a history that moves forward in time and space: by hundreds of years and thousands of miles.
From the 12th century, people began to use surnames to distinguish one family from another. Surnames could be patronymic, referring to a male ancestor, occasionally matronymic, or derived from a nickname. The name Burrington was first recorded in the 1400’s in Chudleigh, Devonshire, England, and was a locational or topographic surname, referring to the place where the family lived. In Old English or Anglo-Saxon language, it is believed that "bur, " "end" and "tun" referred to "the villa and an enclosure." Another description refers to the Old English word burh as a fortified place, along with tun (pronounced toon) meaning a farmstead or enclosure.
We translate "Burrington" as the end of the villa. We were probably so named because we simply lived at the end of the gate or end of the village. And so our name begins in the Middle Ages. Our destiny begins in a history that moves forward in time and space: by hundreds of years and thousands of miles.
© 2010 Rebecca Burrington,
All rights reserved
All rights reserved