Origin
Dennis : 1: English: from the Middle English (Old French) personal name Denis(e) Dinis(e) vernacular forms of Latin Dionysius Greek Dionysios ‘(follower) of Dionysos’ an eastern god introduced to the classical pantheon at a relatively late date and bearing a name of probably Semitic origin. The name was borne by various early Christian saints including Saint Denis the martyred 3rd-century bishop of Paris who became the patron saint of France. From the 12th century onward the popularity of the name in England (and of its cognates mainly Denis in the continental Europe) seems to have been largely due to French influence. The feminine form Dionysia (in vernacular English likewise Den(n)is) is also found and some examples of the surname may originate from it.2: English: from Middle English deneis a variant of danais ‘Danish’ with the vowel influenced by Middle English denshe (Old English denisc). Compare Dence.3: Irish (mainly Dublin and Cork): of the same origin as 1 and 2 above sometimes an alternative form to Donohue but more often to McDonough since the personal name Donnchadh was Anglicized as Donough or Denis.4: Irish (Ulster and Munster): Anglicized form of the rare Gaelic name Ó Donnghusa ‘descendant of Donnghus’ a personal name from donn ‘brown-haired man’ or ‘chieftain’ + gus ‘vigor’.
Latch : English:: 1: occupational name for a physician a variant of Leach.2: topographic name from an Old English element læcc lecc ‘boggy stream’ or a habitational name from a place called with this word such as Lach Dennis or Lache in Cheshire.
Letch : either topographic from Middle English lech(e) lecche lache ‘sluggish stream wet place’ (Old English *læcc(e) *lecc(e) ‘stream’) or toponymic from a place named with this word such as Lach Dennis and Lache (both Cheshire) and Eastleach and Northleach (both Gloucs).
Morphey : probably a reduced or altered form of Morfield or Murfield; see Merrifield a name found in various spellings in Cornwall Devon Wilts Hants Sussex Surrey and Kent. This is the perhaps the most likely source of the earliest examples in S and SW England but see (ii) for another source which seems to have arisen from the late 17th century onwards leading to possible confusion between names originally with -field and those originally with -foot. Compare the Stepney and the Saint Giles Cripplegate examples cited below with Susan Morefield 1611 Richard Morefield 1647 David Morfoot 1681 in IGI (Stepney Middx) and Thomas Morefield 1673 in IGI (Saint Giles Cripplegate London) although these could be different family names coinciding in the same parishes. With the Suffolk examples of Morphew etc. compare John Morfull 1547 in IGI (Woodbridge Suffolk).variant of Morfett (see Moorfoot). In Sussex and Kent this is illustrated by Dennis Morefoote 1551 Sarah Morfet 1696 Thomas Morfey 1759 in IGI (Wartling Sussex); Thomas Morfoot 1672 Thomas Morfee 1700 Thomas Morfett 1734 Zabulon Morphey 1745 in IGI (Hastings Sussex); Elizabeth Morfett 1745 Jeremiah Morphett 1758 John Morphey 1798 in IGI (Cranbrook Kent); Thos. Morfew 1747 Thomas Morfet 1755 Thomas Morfey 1750 in IGI (Guestling Sussex). A similar pattern of variation occurs in Norfolk: Walter Morefoote 1626 James Murfee 1687 Alexander Morfee 1701 Mary Morfew 1775 in IGI (Great Yarmouth Norfolk). There is early modern evidence for Murph(e)y as a variant of Morphey but 18th-century bearers listed below could alternatively belong with (iv).improbably from Anglo-Norman French morphé Middle English morphé morfe(e) morfeu morpheu murfue ‘morphea any one of a group of skin diseases characterized by discoloration of the skin and scurfy eruptions’. This is a medical term rather than an item of ordinary vocabulary from which a medieval nickname and surname might naturally have derived and the absence of corresponding medieval surname forms adds to the doubtfulness of such an origin. However the word was still current in early modern England and may have played a part in the alteration of the names in (i) and (ii) to Morphey and Morphew through learnéd folk etymology.see Irish Murphy.
Restorick : from Restowrack in Saint Dennis (Cornwall). The place-name derives from Middle Cornish *ros ‘promontory hill spur’ + an adjectival form of dour ‘water’.
Sock : 1: German: perhaps a metonymic occupational name for a shoemaker (of light slipperlike shoes) from Middle High German socke ‘sock’.2: Germanized or Americanized form of Sorbian and Slovenian Sok.3: English: nickname from Middle English sugge soke ‘small bird’ attested in Middle English heysoke modern English dialect haysuck ‘dunnock hedge sparrow’.4: English: topographic name from Middle English sok(e) ‘marsh bog quagmire’ (Old English soc from sūcan ‘to suck’ or socian ‘to soak’). The surname may be for someone who lived in or by a boggy place or for someone who came from a place so named such as Sock Dennis (Somerset) or Sock in Mudford (Somerset).5: English: rarely from the Middle English personal name Soke (Old English Socca Old Norse Sokki).6: West African (Senegal): Tukulor name of unexplained etymology.
Trerise : from one or more places in Cornwall named Trerise (Crowan Ruan Major) or Trerice (Saint Allen Saint Breock Saint Dennis Newlyn East Sancreed). The place-names derive from Middle Cornish tre ‘estate farmstead’ + rid ‘ford’.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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