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Archives"Locc" (Old Norse?), "Cunningham" (Scottish), "Kempthorne" (Old English)
Cunningham is a transfered use of a surname to a first name, from a gentleman fron Ayrshire. I believe there is a explaination of this name that came from Ireland, but this family lived in Scotland since the middle ages. Is there a wholly Scottish derivation?
Kempthorne relates to a person from this town (or is it village?).
Kempthorne relates to a person from this town (or is it village?).
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Replies
Cunningham - I think that this may be from the Old Scandinavian 'konungr' meaning "king" + Old English 'ham' "village, estate".
Kempthorne is a strange one, I can't find information on the place and the etymology has many possibilites.
Kemp may come from either the ME 'kempe' meaning "warrior", or could be from OE personal names Cenep, Cymi, Cynemær or Cempa. Thorne is from the OE 'thorn' meaning "thorn (tree)".
The Old English word 'locc' refers to a lock of hair. But there is also an Irish word 'locc' which I will research as soon as I get back from picking up the baby. :)
Kempthorne is a strange one, I can't find information on the place and the etymology has many possibilites.
Kemp may come from either the ME 'kempe' meaning "warrior", or could be from OE personal names Cenep, Cymi, Cynemær or Cempa. Thorne is from the OE 'thorn' meaning "thorn (tree)".
The Old English word 'locc' refers to a lock of hair. But there is also an Irish word 'locc' which I will research as soon as I get back from picking up the baby. :)
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Cunningham is almost certainly Old English in origin. The 'ham' part means "homestead" or "settlement" (like it does in Brigham, Graham and Gresham and in my own surname, Woodhams). Cunning I'm not sure about, but the word 'cunning' (meaning sly or devious) has Old English roots: it originally meant 'learned' (see http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cunning). I'm not sure if that etymology is related to the name, but if it is then Cunningham would mean something like "the learned one's homestead".
Kempthorne is simpler: 'thorne' was used to designate someone who lived near a thorn bush (Behind the Surname says "in or near a thorn bush" but I imagine the number of people living in thorn bushes has never been very great ;-D). For 'kemp' just click on Kemp. Both Kemp and Thorne are in the Behind the Surname database (http://surnames.behindthename.com/).
:-)
♦ Chrisell ♦
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien.
Kempthorne is simpler: 'thorne' was used to designate someone who lived near a thorn bush (Behind the Surname says "in or near a thorn bush" but I imagine the number of people living in thorn bushes has never been very great ;-D). For 'kemp' just click on Kemp. Both Kemp and Thorne are in the Behind the Surname database (http://surnames.behindthename.com/).
:-)
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien.
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