Re: Bogus coats of arms

In fact, House of Names is the website where I came across my utterly
bogus Stockdill Coat of Arms. It's based in Canada, I believe.

Look at virtually any surname you like on that site and you will find the
explanation says it came to England with William the Conqueror! Either
that or it goes back to Anglo-Saxon times. And, of course, everybody of
the name is descended from a nobleman or lord of the manor - there
simply weren't any ordinary people around in those times.

C Rihan...

Thought I'd have a go with some of my surnames, so I tried Gully.
I haven't checked, but a fellow Guly researcher told me that a
Gully cmae over with William the Conqueror, but no mention of that
on this site, says the name is English.and first found as Oxfordshire,
Lords of the Manor. I'm obviously not that far back, most Gullys
being further south-west than that.
I quite like the mention of noteworthy people with the same name.
and that for the surname Hope they've listed some of them twice
and stated which was the original name for them.

Other surnames were said to be from places I expected.
I even manged to find some surnames from a variety of countries,
including Russia and France.
And some had a choice of origins,
eg Smith has Dutch, Irish, English, Scottish and German.

Best wishes
C.Rihan

Monkey Hanger...

Aye, it's true! This is what it says about my surname:

"First found in Fifeshire where they held a family seat from very ancient
times, and it is claimed that the family name is descended from the ancient
and Royal House of the Earls of Fife"

Claimed by who?

I've got back to the 1600's and we're all Baldricks, and all English through
and through!

Richard van Schaik...

Nobody to empty the digged loo ...... it must have been an awfull time.