Origin
Crispin : 1: English; Spanish (Crispín): from the personal name Middle English Crispin Spanish Crispín from Latin Crispinus derived from crispus ‘curly-haired’ (see Crisp). This name was especially popular in France in the early Middle Ages having been borne by a Christian saint who was martyred at Soissons in AD c. 285 along with a companion Crispinianus (whose name is a further derivative of the same word). Compare Crespin and 3 below.2: English (of Norman origin): from Old French and Middle English crespin crispin ‘curly-haired’ also found as Crepin; see Crippin. It is difficult to tell this apart from the personal name in 1 above. According to Lanfranc archbishop of Canterbury (1070–1089) the Norman Gilbert Crispin was the first man to receive this nickname and two of his sons adopted it as their surname. His grandson Gilbert Crispin became abbot of Westminster in 1085. Members of the Norman family were said to have inherited a shock of hair that stood up stiffly like a bristly pine as though the name derived from Latin crispus pinus but this derivation is a medieval invention.3: Americanized form of German Krispin and possibly also of Dutch Krispijn or Chrispijn Czech Kryšpín or Krišpín and Polish Kryszpin cognates of 1 above.
Flintoft : from a lost or unidentified place-name containing as the second element Middle English toft(e) ‘toft’ (Old Scandinavian toft) denoting a plot of land on which a house stands or formerly stood (see Toft). Evidence from early bearers indicates that the place may have been in SE Lincs near Boston where several ‘toft’ place-names are still to be found.
Hewitt : English:: 1: from the Middle English personal name Hewet Huet Hughet Howet pet forms of Hugh (Middle English Hewe Hue; see Hugh and compare Hew). The spelling Hughet stood for both Huet and the synonymous Huget; see Huggett. This surname has also been established in Ireland since the 14th century.2: habitational name from Hewitts in Chelsfield or Hewitts in Willesborough (both Kent) both named from Old English hīewett ‘cutting’ denoting a place where trees had been cut down. Here there lived families called de la Hewatte (1270) de la hewett (1301) and atte Hewete (1338). The name may also be topographic for someone who lived in a newly made clearing in a wood.
Maude : English (of Norman origin):: 1: habitational name from Mold in Flintshire Wales which name derives from Anglo-Norman French mont haut ‘high hill’ (Latinised as mons altus) the Norman name for Bailey Hill on which the castle stood. The name de Montalt de Mohaut was borne by an Anglo-Norman aristocratic family who acted as castle wardens there but who had their chief seat in Riddlesden in Yorkshire where the surname proliferated as Mawhood and Maude. In the 17th century one branch of the family acquired lands in Ireland. The Maude baronetcy of Dundrum Tipperary was created in 1705 for Robert Maude. His son Cornwallis Maude Baron de Montalt was created first Viscount Hawarden in 1793. Mowatt is the Scottish form of the name from a different branch of the same family.2: occasionally from Middle English and Norman French female personal name Mahald or Maud which are Old French forms of ancient Germanic Mahthild (Latinised as Matilda) composed of the Germanic elements maht ‘might power’ + hild ‘battle’. This personal name partly owed its great popularity among Normans in England to the fact that it was the name of the wife (c. 1031–83) of William the Conqueror. Surnames derived from this personal name are found in many forms and spellings for example Mould and Moll">Moll.
Micciche : Italian (Micciché): habitational name from a place (recorded in Greek as Mitzēkenion) which stood on the site of present-day Villalba or Alimena.
Pincombe : English: habitational name from a lost farm in Molland (Devon) which was named from the valley in which it stood Pencomb meaning ‘valley with a pen or animal enclosure’ (Old English penn + cumb).
Pledge : English (southeastern): from Middle English plegge ‘surety guarantor bail pledge’ probably denoting someone who stood bail in a lawsuit. See Pledger.
Shillinglaw : Scottish (Midlothian): habitational name from the lost place Shillinglaw in Traquair (Peeblesshire). The placename means ‘law (hill) where grain is winnowed’ from Scots sheeling ‘shelling husking corn winnowing’. The parallel compound sheeling hill (earlier scheling hill) denotes rising ground where grain was winnowed by the wind therefore a breezy spot. A tower house formerly stood on the site marked on a map of 1654.
Toft : 1: English (Lancashire Cheshire and Staffordshire): habitational name from any of various places for example in Cambridgeshire Lincolnshire Norfolk and Warwickshire named with Middle English toft(e) (Old Norse topt Old Danish toft) denoting a plot of land on which a house stands or formerly stood. The surname may also be topographic for someone who lived by or on a toft.2: Scandinavian: habitational name from any of several farmsteads or placenames derived from Old Norse topt ‘curtilage site homestead’.
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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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