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ArchivesRe: Surname Cottrell (2nd ? Devonelisa)
in reply to a message by Ja9
The idea that Cotterill means cottager is a kind of myth. The trouble here is the false assumption that the name is Anglo-Saxon in origin and one of those names based on occupation. Since cotter means cottager, there you go. Well, if you don't mind being a sick cottager, anyway.
In reality the name is Norman in origin and arrived in England along with, and after, William the Conqueror's victory at the battle of Hastings. Men bearing the name Cotterill (or a variant) fought in that battle, one of them being granted lands in Derbyshire as a reward for his contribution to the favourable(from the Norman perspective) outcome. Whether a particular instance of the name goes all the way back to that moment of glory (again, taking the Norman view) is, of course, another matter!
You might be interested to know (I know I was) that a Thomas Cotterill apparently fought at the battle of Waterloo - on the English side this time; we're a flexible family. Still another Cotterill waged heroic war for the English in the Spanish theatre of that same Napoleonic War.
In reality the name is Norman in origin and arrived in England along with, and after, William the Conqueror's victory at the battle of Hastings. Men bearing the name Cotterill (or a variant) fought in that battle, one of them being granted lands in Derbyshire as a reward for his contribution to the favourable(from the Norman perspective) outcome. Whether a particular instance of the name goes all the way back to that moment of glory (again, taking the Norman view) is, of course, another matter!
You might be interested to know (I know I was) that a Thomas Cotterill apparently fought at the battle of Waterloo - on the English side this time; we're a flexible family. Still another Cotterill waged heroic war for the English in the Spanish theatre of that same Napoleonic War.
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Replies
You're both wrong and right. It's not Anglo-Saxon, its Norman, but it's from Norman French that we get the meaning "Cottager" — Cottrell, with English variant Cotterill (among others): status name for a cottager, from Old French coterel, a diminutive of cotier ‘cottager’ (see Cotter 2).
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press
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So I am intrigued by the award of land after the battle of Hastings. I believe our family crest has a field of arrowheads (I suppose this means we were archers?).
I think I have also read that King Harald died in part by an arrow through the eye at Hastings.
Do you think there is any chance an ancestor got a lucky shot and was then rewarded by a land grant?
Is this Derbyshire grant listed in the domesday book?
Thanks,
Hayden Cotterill
I think I have also read that King Harald died in part by an arrow through the eye at Hastings.
Do you think there is any chance an ancestor got a lucky shot and was then rewarded by a land grant?
Is this Derbyshire grant listed in the domesday book?
Thanks,
Hayden Cotterill
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A long time ago I read in a book that the name meant "A Lighthouse Keeper". However, I have not been able to find that meaning since the age of the Internet.
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