Origin
Fox : 1: English: nickname from a word denoting the animal (Middle English Old English fox) widely used to denote a sly or cunning individual. It was also used for someone with red hair. In England this surname absorbed some early examples of surnames derived from the ancient Germanic personal names mentioned at Faulks and Foulks.2: Irish: part translation of Gaelic Mac an tSionnaigh ‘son of the fox’ (see Tinney).3: Irish: also adopted for Ó Catharnaigh see Kearney.4: Americanized form (translation into English) of surnames meaning ‘fox’ or ‘he-fox’ for example German and Jewish Fuchs and its Central German variant Fochs Croatian Lisac Slovenian Lisjak and Finnish Kettunen. See also Redfox 2.5: Americanized form of Focks a North German patronymic from the personal name Fock (see Volk).6: Native American: translation into English (and shortening) of a personal name based on a word such as Cheyenne ma'ehoohe meaning ‘fox’. The cultural significance of the fox to Native Americans is reflected in their traditional personal names some of which were adopted as surnames (translated into English) e.g. Red Fox (see Redfox 1).
Belin : 1: Czech (Bělín): either a nickname from a dialect derivative of Czech bílý ‘white’ or a derivative of the female personal name Běla (see Bela).2: Croatian: cognate of Belan and Belina. Compare Bellin.3: French (also Bélin): nickname from a diminutive of bélier ‘ram’ borne by a ram in the medieval literary cycle Reynard the Fox (in French: Roman de Renart).4: French (also Bélin): from a pet form of personal names such as Robelin from Robert or Hubelin from Hubert or perhaps a pet form of a personal name based on Old French bel ‘beautiful’. Compare Bellin.5: Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): variant of Beylin (compare Balin 1).6: Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): habitational name from Belin(y) in Belarus or Ukraine; compare Belinsky.
Brickey : 2: In some cases also a variant of Bricker a surname of German origin.1: Americanized form of northern French Brique Briquet or Bricquet: nickname for a hunter from Old French briquet ‘dog used in fox and badger hunting’ or for a madman from a diminutive of Old French bric ‘mad crazy’.
Cantrell : 1: English (of Norman origin): from Old French canterelle chanterelle a diminutive of c(h)anteor ‘singer’. Compare Cantor. It was used as an alternative name for Chantecler the cock in medieval French versions of the folk story of Reynard the Fox (Le Roman de Renard).2: English: sometimes a variant of Quintrell.3: English: occasionally perhaps a habitational name from Cantrell in Devon early recorded as Canterhulle named from an unexplained first element + Old English hyll ‘hill’.4: Altered form of French Cantrelle.
Colfox : from Middle English colfox ‘coalfox’ (Old English col ‘coal charcoal’ + fox ‘fox’) used to denote a sly or cunning person as in Chaucer's description of ‘a collfox ful of sly iniquitee’ in the Nun's Priest's Tale (about 1390).
Devos : 1: Flemish (also De Vos) and Dutch (De Vos): from Middle Dutch de vos ‘the fox’ a nickname for someone with red hair or a crafty man. Alternatively a topographic or habitational name referring to a house or tavern bearing the sign of a fox. The surname De Vos is also found in South Africa while the Flemish surname in the form Devos is also common in northern France (mainly Nord). Compare Vos.2: English: variant of Devis a habitational name from Devizes in Wiltshire. Alternatively Devis may be a variant of Dews or Dewis the latter possibly arising from the placenames Ewyas Harold or Ewyas Lacy in Herefordshire with fused Anglo-Norman preposition de.3: As an English surname it may possibly also be an Anglicized form of the Swiss French surname Thévoz (see Defoe 1).
Foskett : English: habitational name from any of various places so named from Old English fox ‘fox’ + cot ‘shelter burrow’ (the compound perhaps meaning ‘fox-earth’) such as Foscott alias Foscote (Buckinghamshire) Foscote in Abthorpe (Northamptonshire) Forscote (Somerset) Foxcotte in Andover and Foscot Farm in Hannington (both Hampshire) Foxcote in Withington (Gloucestershire) and Foxcote Farm in Ilmington (Warwickshire).
Foss : 1: English: either topographic name from Middle English foss ‘ditch’ (from Old English foss ‘ditch’ Latin fossa) or a habitational name from one or more of the many places so named such as Voss in Plympton Saint Mary and Great Fossend in Burlescombe (both Devon) the River Foss (North Yorkshire) Foss Beck (East Yorkshire) and the Fosse Way a Roman road running between Lincoln (Lincolnshire) and Axminster (Devon) via Leicester (Leicestershire) Cirencester (Gloucestershire) and Bath (Somerset) named in the Old English period from the ditch that ran alongside it.2: Danish: from fos vos ‘fox’ applied as a nickname for a sly or cunning person or as a topographic or habitational name referring to a house distinguished by the sign of a fox.3: Norwegian: habitational name from a farmstead so named from Old Norse fors ‘waterfall’ examples of which are found throughout Norway.4: North German: variant of Voss. This surname is also found in the Netherlands.
Foxall : English (West Midlands): habitational name from one or more of the places whose names derive from Middle English fox + hale ‘fox nook’ (Old English fox + halh) such as Foxhole Wood in Claverdon (Warwickshire) which is recorded as Foxhale in 1302 and a lost Foxhall in Claverley (Shropshire) which survived as a field-name into the 19th century. Perhaps also from one or more of the many places whose names derive from Middle English fox + hole ‘fox hole’ (Old English fox + hol) such as Foxholes (East Yorkshire) Foxhall (Suffolk) which is recorded as Foxehola in 1086 Foxholes in Wardleworth (Lancashire) Foxholt in Swingfield (Kent) which is recorded as ffoxole in 1254 and Foxhole in Halwill (Devon).
Foxley : English: habitational name from any of numerous places so called such as Foxley in Blakesley (Northamptonshire) Foxley Hall in Lymm (Cheshire) Foxley (Norfolk) Foxley in Coulsdon (Surrey) Foxley in Yazor (Herefordshire) Foxley (Wiltshire) and Foxley Corner in Urchfont (also Wiltshire). The placenames derive from Old English fox ‘fox’ + lēah ‘clearing open woodland’.
Foxlow : from Foxlow Farm in Hartington (Derbys) which is recorded as Foxlawe in 1244. The place-name derives from Old English fox ‘fox’ + halh ‘nook corner’. A possible second source is Foxlow in Marple (Cheshire) recorded as Foxlowe meadow in 1849 which could be the origin of the medieval bearers in Cheshire cited below. If so it has the same etymology as the Derbys place-name.
Foxton : 1: from one or more of the numerous places so named such as Foxton in Thimbleby (NR Yorks) which is recorded as Foxtune in 1088 Foxton (Leics) recorded as Foxtone in 1086 and Foxton (Cambs) recorded as Foxetune Foxtona in 1086. The place-names derive from Old English fox ‘fox’ + tūn ‘farmstead estate’. 2: from Foxton in Sedgefield (Durham) which is recorded as Foxedene in about 1170 or Foxton in Alwinton (Northumb) recorded as Foxden in 1324. The place-names derive from Old English fox ‘fox’ + denu ‘valley’.
Foyle : 1: English and Irish (of Norman origin): habitational name from any of the places in Normandy called La Feuillie (from Latin folia + -ata ‘leafy place wood’) either in Seine-Maritime or Manche. According to MacLysaght it has been established in Ireland since the 13th century at first in Dublin later in Leix.2: English (of Norman origin): habitational name from Foyle Farm in Oxted Surrey recorded as Foyllye la Foily in 1418. A name of French origin La Foyl(y)e was partially Anglicized as the Foyl(y)e shown by early surname forms. One suggestion is that this is derived from Old French fouille ‘excavation’. While this is formally possible there is no evidence for the term in Middle English or as a placename in northern France. More likely it has the same origin and meaning as 1 above and was given by an owner of Norman descent perhaps in imitation of one of the places called La Feuillie in Normandy.3: English and Welsh: perhaps an Anglicized form of Voyle (see Voyles). It could be an English spelling pronunciation of Welsh Foel or Foyl (pronounced /voil/ in Welsh) or it might be an English substitution of English /f/ for /v/ a hypercorrection of words and names where /f/ is voiced to /v/ in western dialects of English such as vox for fox.
Goupil : French: nickname for someone with red hair or for a cunning person from Old French goupil ‘fox’ Late Latin vulpiculus a diminutive of classical Latin vulpes a distant cognate of Wolf. This was replaced as a vocabulary word during the Middle Ages by renard originally a personal name. Compare Reynard the name borne by the fox in the popular beast tales. The name is also found in England in the medieval period but seems to have become extinct only to be reintroduced in the 16th century by Huguenot refugees from France.
Percy : English (of Norman origin):: 1: nickname from Old French percehaie ‘pierce hedge’ (Old French percer ‘to pierce penetrate’ + haie ‘hedge fence’) perhaps with the sense of someone breaking into an enclosure. Percehaie is the name of one of the sons of the foxes Renart and Hermeline in the medieval French epic Roman de Renart whose earliest known version is from the 1170s. The surname is older than that but it may originate in a nickname for the fox as ‘enclosure piercer’ perhaps amounting to ‘chicken thief’.2: habitational name from any of several places called Percy in Calvados Eure and Manche; William de Perci the Domesday tenant-in-chief and under-tenant of Hugh Earl of Chester came from either Percy-en-Auge (Eure) or Percy (Manche).
Redfox : 1: Native American (also Red Fox): translation into English of a personal name such as Cheyenne Ma'ehoohe meaning ‘(red) fox’. See also Fox 6.2: Americanized form (translation into English) of German Rothfuchs: nickname from German Rotfuchs ‘red fox’; see Roth 1 and Fuchs.
Skeath : from Middle English scath(e) northern Middle English scaithe (Old Scandinavian skaðe) ‘hurt harm injury’ perhaps for someone with a visible injury sustained in battle or as a punishment or else elliptical for the phrasal nickname Waiteskath ‘inflict or intend injury on (someone)’ attested in Ranulpho Wayteskathe 1327 in Subsidy Rolls (Eastwood Notts). In Caxton's Reynard the Fox (1481) the fox's confessor goes by the name of Friar Wolf Waitskath. It is also possible but not on record that Middle English scath(e) had the additional sense ‘wrong-doer robber’ that belonged to Middle English shath(e) (Old English sceaða scaða a cognate of Old Scandinavian skaðe). Skeath is a post-medieval spelling of scathe and scaithe. In E Anglia where Middle English ā was raised to [ɛ:] and then [e:] during the 15th century there may have been some confusion with Skeet.perhaps occasionally from an early unrecorded Middle English personal name *Skathe Old Scandinavian Skaði derived from the nickname in (i). It is possibly attested in the place-name Scatholme (about 1225) now Scalm Park and Wood in Wistow (WR Yorks).doubtfully from one or more places named with Old Scandinavian skeið ‘racecourse’ perhaps also ‘track boundary road’ or ‘boundary’ including The Skeyth (lost) in Leicester (Leics) and Wickham Skeith (Suffolk). Compare Old Danish skade ‘boundary’ which is the probable sense in Wickham Skeith. Since none of the medieval examples of the surname have a preposition this origin is uncertain and the surname is recorded only late and rarely in either Leics or Suffolk.
Todd : English (mainly northern) and Scottish: nickname for someone thought to resemble a fox for example in cunning or slyness or perhaps more obviously in having red hair from northern Middle English tod(de) ‘fox’. Compare Todhunter Todman. This name was brought to Ulster Ireland from Scotland in the 17th century.
Zorrilla : Spanish: from a diminutive of zorra ‘vixen’ or zorro ‘fox’ applied as a nickname either for a crafty or devious person or possibly a lazy one the Spanish term for the fox meaning literally ‘the lazy one’ from Old Spanish zorro ‘lazy’ (from zorrar ‘to drag’).
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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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